Further to the north, where German influences were more potent, the cathedrals still displayed, each after its own kind, a sunny southern waywardness.

Glowing with marbles and mosaics, glittering with ornaments, where the foliage of the Corinthian acanthus hides the symbols of the Passion, and where birds and Cupids peep from tangled fruits beneath grave brows of saints and martyrs; leaning now to the long low colonnades of the Basilica, now to the high-built arches of the purely Pointed style; surmounting the meeting point of nave and transept with Etruscan domes; covering the facade with bas-reliefs, the roof with statues; raising the porch-pillars upon lions and winged griffins; flanking the nave with bell-towers, or planting them apart like flowers in isolation on the open square--these wonderful buildings, the delight and joy of all who love to trace variety in beauty, and to note the impress of a nation's genius upon its art, seem, like Italy herself, to feel all influences and to assimilate all nationalities.
Amid the many styles of architecture contending for mastery in Italy, three, before the age of the Revival, bid fair to win the battle.

These were the Lombard, the Tuscan Romanesque, and the Gothic.

Chronologically the two former flourished nearly during the same centuries, while Gothic, coming from without, suspended their development.

But chronology is of little help in the history of Italian architecture; its main features being, not uniformity of progression, but synchronous diversity and salience of local type.