Next to the Cathedral is the octagonal Baptistery. It was begun in 1196 and finished around 1215. It is attributed to a great architect and sculptor: Benedetto Antelami.
It appears as a large and powerful octagonal tower in which at the base we find powerful arches that run along the base and in the four upper orders architraved loggias that seem to replace the masonry visually lightening the building.
The architraved loggias are a motif that comes to Antelami through the reworking of Provençal motifs, from Provence, in France.
The building ends with a crown of very slender blind loggias.
The edges of the octagon are represented by corner buttresses that highlight the upward thrust of the building.
The building then ends with the pinnacles. It is still a Romanesque building but already shows a Gothic thrust.
