There is very little left of the first church of S. Zeno at Verona (which was rebuilt entirely in the twelfth century), except the curious mausoleum in the crypt, which is supposed to be King Pepin's tomb. Our Comacine who escaped the brigands may possibly have made that, as the era (before the year 1000) corresponds. Or he might have been working at the church which Bishop Lothaire, aided by Bertrada, mother of Charlemagne, built 780 A.D., and dedicated to S. Maria Matricolare, and which the Bishop Ratoldo (802-840) chose as the cathedral. Of this, too, little remains now, it having been rebuilt in the twelfth century, but some indications of the old building were found in the excavations made in 1884. At the depth of two metres, in the Lombard cloister adjoining it, a mosaic pavement was discovered with a design of foliage, animals, and inscriptions. There was also a fallen column, which they were able to stand on its own base with its capital. Cattaneo[77] thinks that these are the remains of Lothaire's church, as the capital of the column is undoubtedly of the eighth century. It has a rigid abacus, and the form is rudely Corinthian, with solid straight leaves curled back, instead of the usual acanthus. The same style is seen in S. Salvatore of Brescia, and S. Maria in Cosmedin in Rome, both Comacine works. [Illustration: COMACINE CAPITALS. _See page 96._] Another Carlovingian church in Verona is that of S. Lorenzo, said to have been founded by Pepin. Some interesting bits of its primitive architecture remain, and are precious relics. There is, for instance, a little spiral stairway in the wall, which led to different divisions of the women's gallery.[78] At this era a change in the form of windows may be observed; they were narrowed and heightened, a first step towards the Gothic form. In Carlovingian times the Comacines worked much in Rome. Cattaneo[79] says that there exist letters from Pope Adrian I. to Charlemagne, begging him to send architects (_Magistri_) from the north of Italy, to execute some works in Rome. Now these _Magistri_ could be no other than the Comacine Guild of Lombardy, who with the Longobards had lately become subjects of Charlemagne, and were without doubt the finest builders in Italy, if not monopolists of the art. The buildings which they designed and erected in Rome at that time were the churches of S. Maria in Cosmedin, S. Lorenzo in Lucina, S. Saba on Mount Aventine, and the residence of the Patriarch near S. John Lateran. The door of a chapel in S. Prassede with its Comacine _intrecci_ is a standing proof of their work there in the ninth century.