uch a work it would now be impossible to execute with such
perfection as he gave to it. He also prepared the design for the villa
that Borgherini caused to be built on the hill of Bellosguardo, which
was very beautiful and commodious, and erected at vast expense. For
Giovan Maria Benintendi he executed an antechamber, with an ornamental
frame for some scenes painted by excellent masters, which was a rare
thing. The same Baccio made the model of the Church of S. Giuseppe near
S. Nofri, and directed the construction of the door, which was his last
work. He also caused to be built of masonry the campanile of S. Spirito
in Florence, which was left unfinished, and is now being completed by
order of Duke Cosimo after the original design of Baccio; and he
likewise erected the campanile of S. Miniato sul Monte, which was
battered by the artillery of the camp, but never destroyed, on which
account it gained no less fame for the affront that it offered to the
enemy than for the beauty and excellence with which Baccio had caused it
to be built and carried to completion.

Next, having been appointed on account of his abilities, and because he
was much beloved by the citizens, as architect to S. Maria del Fiore,
Baccio gave the design for constructing the gallery that encircles the
cupola. This part of the work Filippo Brunelleschi, being overtaken by
death, had not been able to execute; and although he had made designs
even for this, they had been lost or destroyed through the negligence of
those in charge of the building. Baccio, then, having made the design
and model for this gallery, carried into execution all the part that is
to be seen facing the Canto de' Bischeri. But Michelagnolo Buonarroti,
on his return from Rome, perceiving that in carrying out this work they
were cutting away the toothings that Filippo Brunelleschi, not without a
purpose, had left projecting, made such a clamour that the work was
stopped; saying that it seemed to him that Baccio had made a cage for
crickets, that a pile so vast required something grander and executed
with more design, art, and grace than appeared to him to be displayed by
Baccio's design, and that he himself would show how it should be done.
Michelagnolo having therefore made a model, the matter was disputed at
great length before Cardinal Giulio de' Medici by many craftsmen and
competent citizens; and in the end neither the one model nor the other
was carried into execution. Baccio's de