On the northern side of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta in Como stands a monumental entrance carved in 1507 by the brothers Giacomo and Tommaso Rodari (Fig. 210).1 A highlight of their work on the Cathedral, which began around 1484, this portal – known as the Porta della Rana after a frog carved on the door jamb – features a central tympanum with a sculpted Visitation supported by pilasters decorated with candelabra in low relief flanked by four statues of saints set in niches. At the top stands an aedicule buttressed by two scrolls with a statue of the Virgin framed by angels and surmounted by the figure of God the Father in a mandorla. Flanking the entryway are two heavily ornamented, freestanding columns, composed of chromatically varied blocks of stone decorated with an extraordinary variety of sculpture. The right-hand column (Fig. 211), for example, stands on a plinth with reliefs depicting Hercules battling a centaur and Mars with Victory. On top of this sit four lions that support a cylindrical altar with putti holding grotesque heads. Next there is a round column base, on which is a bulbous vessel covered in leaves and decorated with hanging garlands and handled tablets (tabula ansata) inscribed in Latin with Christian dictums. This then supports a divider with an inset banderole, an altar with swags and eagles, and another one with swags and dolphins. Moving upward, stacked atop this is a section adorned with scrolls and shells, an upside-down bulb decorated with leaves and swags, a beaded garland, a vase partially in the form of a basket, and a laurel wreath. Finally, at the summit of this towering architectural element is a Corinthian-esque column, the shaft of which is divided by a band decorated with putti and the head of a Roman emperor. The other column features the same component parts, but each is carved with subtly different motifs.