The architecture
The octagonal structure, in pink Verona marble, includes four tiers of open loggias with architraved portals. The number eight is a symbolic reference to the Resurrection of Christ, who by defeating death overcame the usual chronological limit of the seven days’ week.

The portals
The three great splayed portals are not set in as separate elements, but are closely linked to the whole building through cornices running around both the base and top of the columns and through the great arch in the middle, which is also repeated on the sides that have no access.

The zoophorus
A couple of metres off the ground, a series of sculpted panels encircles almost the entire building. It is called “zoophorus” and seems to refer to the medieval “bestiaries”, books of real and imaginary animals.