e always did
everything with such diligence and such good foundations, that not one
of his buildings ever showed a crack. Finally, he restored the
fortress of La Chiusa above Verona, making it possible for persons to
pass by without entering the fortress, but yet in such a manner that,
on the raising of a bridge by those who are within, no one can pass by
against their will, or even show himself on the road, which is very
narrow and cut out of the rock. He also built at Verona, just after he
had returned from Rome, the very beautiful bridge over the Adige,
called the Ponte Nuovo, doing this at the commission of Messer
Giovanni Emo, at that time Podesta of that city; which bridge was on
account of its strength, as it still is, a marvellous thing.

Michele was excellent not only in fortifications, but also in private
buildings and in temples, churches, and monasteries, as may be seen
from many buildings at Verona and other places, and particularly from
the most ornate and beautiful Chapel of the Guareschi in S.
Bernardino, which is round after the manner of a temple, and in the
Corinthian Order, with all the ornaments which that manner admits.
That chapel, I say, he built all of that white pietra viva, which,
from the sound that it makes when it is being worked, is called in
that city "Bronzo"; and, in truth, that kind of stone, after fine
marble, is the most beautiful that has been found down to our own
times, being absolutely solid and without holes or spots that might
spoil it. Since that chapel, then, is built on the inside all of that
most beautiful stone, and wrought by excellent masters of carving, and
put together very well, it is considered that among works of that kind
there is at the present day no other more beautiful in all Italy. For
Michele made the whole work curve in a circle in such a manner, that
three altars which are in it, with their pediments and cornices, and
likewise the space of the door, all turn in a perfect round, almost
after the likeness of the entrances that Filippo Brunelleschi made in
the Chapels of the Temple of the Angeli in Florence; which is a very
difficult thing to do. Michele then made therein a gallery over the
first range of columns, which circles right round the chapel, and
there are to be seen most beautiful carvings in the form of columns,
capitals, foliage, grotesques, little pilasters, and other things,
carved with incredible diligence. The door of that chapel he made
quadr