Papers by Giuliana Massimo
Hortus Artium Medievalium, 2023
THE USE OF PINK BRECCIA IN FREDERICK II’S BUILDING SITES: AESTHETIC OR POLITICAL CHOICE?
The pap... more THE USE OF PINK BRECCIA IN FREDERICK II’S BUILDING SITES: AESTHETIC OR POLITICAL CHOICE?
The paper focuses on the use of pink breccia from Gargano (in Apulia) in monuments directly commissioned by Frederick II as a precise programmatic choice, in its reference to porphyry.
Quarries of a material, with petrological characteristics similar to the coral breccia, can be identified in a locality in the western Gargano from which the breccia, used both in the architectural plastic of Castel del Monte and in many building sites connected to the so-called "school of Foggia", comes. The use of this material, after the brief Late Antique period, is resumed in Capitanata not before the second quarter of the thirteenth century and also marks the "Gothic" turn of the skilled workers in the service of the emperor (acute arch, crochet, and so on). The analysis of some buildings explains the steps that lead from Foggia to Castel del Monte, a manifesto of the mature aesthetics of Frederick II, passing through Pantano, San Severo, Lucera, Lagopesole.
The ideological value of the pink breccia seems to be confirmed by its presence in the tomb, containing Frederick II’s entrails, which had been erected in the cathedral of Foggia.
Estratto dalla rivista Arte Medievale anno IV-(2005), 1-pagine 71-90
Pope Zacharias played a role of great relief in the history of the Patriarchio: I tried, in this ... more Pope Zacharias played a role of great relief in the history of the Patriarchio: I tried, in this work, to highlight his importance in being one of the first to recognize the leading role Rome played in the veneration of the images and in the vindication of Pope’s autonomy from the Byzantine Imperator. The great works of restoration, decoration and construction of new buildings at the Lateran are manifesto of this, as well as, in my opinions, the present re-reading of the documentary, archaeological and historiographical evidences testify even more clearly. We know from the Liber Pontificalis, that the work of Zacharias interested two different porchs: the first one, already existing, near St. Sylvester oratory, that he decorated with sacred images; the other in front of the scrinium lateranensis, built from the foundations. The fact that Zacharias delivered a synod, in 745, in the Theodore basilica seems to suggest a term post quem for the conclusion of his works. As it’s known, most of scholars bring back the surviving vestiges near the Sancta Sanctorum base to Zacharias: recognizing in the columns the rests of his famous porch and in the room preserving the so-called St. Augustine fresco the scrinium/library; some, moreover, postulate a relation between the tower-formed ruin –that would seem, rather, the base of a bell tower, probably annexed to St. Lorenzo chapel – and the tower of Zacharias. In my opinion, it is not possible to locate with certainty the scrinium in the immediate vicinities of the Sancta Sanctorum, because none of the notes sources attests, in the specific case of the Lateran, that the archive and the library are the same thing (they are always cited separately): at the most the fresco could belong to the library cited in the life of Gregory IInd. Anyway, according to what we know, for certain, today, it is impossible to establish where the scrinium was situated, and I think that the scrinium and library weren’t the same room. I’ve remembered that it is already attested at the half of the IVth century, it is reasonable, therefore, that it rose near the Baptistry, where the more ancient nucleus of the Patriarchio was. I think, instead, than the aforesaid columns belonged to the justice administration connected porch, than in its turn, in all probability, it was already used for the papal alms instituted by Adrian Ist. The still visible pillared room, therefore, would seem to be, in all or part, the place where the triclinium ante basilicam papae Theodori rose, otherwise the so-called “basilica of Zacharias”, and, in particular, it is reasonable that it was the introitus, used to receive the Pope in occasion of some solemn rituals. It seems that the area used for the private residence of the popes, rich also of representation rooms, developed in the oriental zone of the palace. It is reasonable to think that the Vigilio basilica rose in this area, and was later obliterated from the triclinium maius of Leo IIIrd, not far away from the Theodore basilica. St. Sebastian oratory, probably, was dislocated near this one, too: location that had to generate confusion between Theodore basilica, St. Sebastian oratory and St. Sylvester oratory (prescinding from the room visible near the base of the Sancta Sanctorum and known with a dedication to St. Sebastian, in connection of wich it is said that there are no sufficient reasons to identify it as the oratory founded by Theodore). The decoration of the oratory of St. Sylvester is included in the program of restoration and renewal promoted by Zacharias, too. The circumstance that the Liber Pontificalis contextually cites the oratory and a porch (sacris imaginibus tam oratorium beati Silvestri quamque et porticum decoravit), would carry to identify this porch as a part of the macrona, in the immediate vicinities of St. Silvester oratory. On the basis of the re-examination of the sources I made, I can say that probably the porch with the tower and the triclinium rose in the place where later Leo IIIrd built the Aula Concilii. In the central Middle Ages, the denomination palatium Zachariae, in fact, was still conserved for the zone where you approached by the stairs linking the Savior basilica with the papal palace. The configuration of the porch with the tower had certain analogies with the Chalkè of Constantinople and it seems to have played an important role in the genesis of the architectonic typology of the house-tower and more generally for the fortune of the tower as monumental and representation structure in Carolingian age (I reminded both the tower built by Adrian Ist in the Patriarchio, and the original aspect of the towered-entrance of the SS. Quattro Coronati Abbey and of the Tre Fontane Abbey). The dialogue instituted by Zacharias with the Great Palace of Constantinople, beyond to a clear emulating attempt, shades also a comparison and controversy will with imperial politics, in spite of the destruction of the Christ of the Chalkè, the roman…
Il rupestre e l'acqua nel Medioevo. Religiosità, quotidianità, produttività, 2020
Archivio Storico Pugliese LXXI , 2018
Atti 40° Convegno Nazionale Daunia, 2020
Letteratura erudita, fonti e documenti d’archivio. Per una storia di San Giovanni in Venere e del Mezzogiorno adriatico, 2020
Arte medievale, 2003
Pope Zacharias played a role of great relief in the history of the Patriarchio: I tried, in this ... more Pope Zacharias played a role of great relief in the history of the Patriarchio: I tried, in this work, to highlight his importance in being one of the first to recognize the leading role Rome played in the veneration of the images and in the vindication of Pope’s autonomy from the Byzantine Imperator. The great works of restoration, decoration and construction of new buildings at the Lateran are manifesto of this, as well as, in my opinions, the present re-reading of the documentary, archaeological and historiographical evidences testify even more clearly. We know from the Liber Pontificalis, that the work of Zacharias interested two different porchs: the first one, already existing, near St. Sylvester oratory, that he decorated with sacred images; the other in front of the scrinium lateranensis, built from the foundations. The fact that Zacharias delivered a synod, in 745, in the Theodore basilica seems to suggest a term post quem for the conclusion of his works. As it’s known, most of scholars bring back the surviving vestiges near the Sancta Sanctorum base to Zacharias: recognizing in the columns the rests of his famous porch and in the room preserving the so-called St. Augustine fresco the scrinium/library; some, moreover, postulate a relation between the tower-formed ruin –that would seem, rather, the base of a bell tower, probably annexed to St. Lorenzo chapel – and the tower of Zacharias. In my opinion, it is not possible to locate with certainty the scrinium in the immediate vicinities of the Sancta Sanctorum, because none of the notes sources attests, in the specific case of the Lateran, that the archive and the library are the same thing (they are always cited separately): at the most the fresco could belong to the library cited in the life of Gregory IInd. Anyway, according to what we know, for certain, today, it is impossible to establish where the scrinium was situated, and I think that the scrinium and library weren’t the same room. I’ve remembered that it is already attested at the half of the IVth century, it is reasonable, therefore, that it rose near the Baptistry, where the more ancient nucleus of the Patriarchio was. I think, instead, than the aforesaid columns belonged to the justice administration connected porch, than in its turn, in all probability, it was already used for the papal alms instituted by Adrian Ist. The still visible pillared room, therefore, would seem to be, in all or part, the place where the triclinium ante basilicam papae Theodori rose, otherwise the so-called “basilica of Zacharias”, and, in particular, it is reasonable that it was the introitus, used to receive the Pope in occasion of some solemn rituals.
It seems that the area used for the private residence of the popes, rich also of representation rooms, developed in the oriental zone of the palace. It is reasonable to think that the Vigilio basilica rose in this area, and was later obliterated from the triclinium maius of Leo IIIrd, not far away from the Theodore basilica. St. Sebastian oratory, probably, was dislocated near this one, too: location that had to generate confusion between Theodore basilica, St. Sebastian oratory and St. Sylvester oratory (prescinding from the room visible near the base of the Sancta Sanctorum and known with a dedication to St. Sebastian, in connection of wich it is said that there are no sufficient reasons to identify it as the oratory founded by Theodore). The decoration of the oratory of St. Sylvester is included in the program of restoration and renewal promoted by Zacharias, too. The circumstance that the Liber Pontificalis contextually cites the oratory and a porch (sacris imaginibus tam oratorium beati Silvestri quamque et porticum decoravit), would carry to identify this porch as a part of the macrona, in the immediate vicinities of St. Silvester oratory.
On the basis of the re-examination of the sources I made, I can say that probably the porch with the tower and the triclinium rose in the place where later Leo IIIrd built the Aula Concilii. In the central Middle Ages, the denomination palatium Zachariae, in fact, was still conserved for the zone where you approached by the stairs linking the Savior basilica with the papal palace. The configuration of the porch with the tower had certain analogies with the Chalkè of Constantinople and it seems to have played an important role in the genesis of the architectonic typology of the house-tower and more generally for the fortune of the tower as monumental and representation structure in Carolingian age (I reminded both the tower built by Adrian Ist in the Patriarchio, and the original aspect of the towered-entrance of the SS. Quattro Coronati Abbey and of the Tre Fontane Abbey). The dialogue instituted by Zacharias with the Great Palace of Constantinople, beyond to a clear emulating attempt, shades also a comparison and controversy will with imperial politics, in spite of the destruction of the Christ of the Chalkè, the roman pope, in fact, adorned the door of his porch/tower with one image of the Savior.
Atti 26° Con. Naz. Daunia, 2016
Atti 39 °Conv. Naz. St. Daunia, 2019
Storia e archeologia globale dei paesaggi rurali in Italia fra Tardoantico e Medioevo, 2018
Sono presentati i primi dati delle ricerche svolte nella Puglia settentrionale nell'ambito del pr... more Sono presentati i primi dati delle ricerche svolte nella Puglia settentrionale nell'ambito del progetto CARE (Corpus Architetturae religiosae Europeae), con una revisione e sintesi di dati noti e nuovi studi su vari contesti (Volturara, Montecorvino, S. Giovanni Rotondo, Lucera, Siponto, S. Marco in Lamis).
La cattedrale di Foggia le sue forme nel tempo, 2014
Atti 37° Convegno Nazionale Daunia, 2017
Medioevo: la Chiesa e il palazzo. Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi, Parma (2005), 2007
Percorsi di conoscenza e tutela. Studi in onore di Michele D’Elia, 2008
Estratto dalla rivista Arte Medievale anno IV-(2005), 1-pagine 71-90
Uploads
Papers by Giuliana Massimo
The paper focuses on the use of pink breccia from Gargano (in Apulia) in monuments directly commissioned by Frederick II as a precise programmatic choice, in its reference to porphyry.
Quarries of a material, with petrological characteristics similar to the coral breccia, can be identified in a locality in the western Gargano from which the breccia, used both in the architectural plastic of Castel del Monte and in many building sites connected to the so-called "school of Foggia", comes. The use of this material, after the brief Late Antique period, is resumed in Capitanata not before the second quarter of the thirteenth century and also marks the "Gothic" turn of the skilled workers in the service of the emperor (acute arch, crochet, and so on). The analysis of some buildings explains the steps that lead from Foggia to Castel del Monte, a manifesto of the mature aesthetics of Frederick II, passing through Pantano, San Severo, Lucera, Lagopesole.
The ideological value of the pink breccia seems to be confirmed by its presence in the tomb, containing Frederick II’s entrails, which had been erected in the cathedral of Foggia.
It seems that the area used for the private residence of the popes, rich also of representation rooms, developed in the oriental zone of the palace. It is reasonable to think that the Vigilio basilica rose in this area, and was later obliterated from the triclinium maius of Leo IIIrd, not far away from the Theodore basilica. St. Sebastian oratory, probably, was dislocated near this one, too: location that had to generate confusion between Theodore basilica, St. Sebastian oratory and St. Sylvester oratory (prescinding from the room visible near the base of the Sancta Sanctorum and known with a dedication to St. Sebastian, in connection of wich it is said that there are no sufficient reasons to identify it as the oratory founded by Theodore). The decoration of the oratory of St. Sylvester is included in the program of restoration and renewal promoted by Zacharias, too. The circumstance that the Liber Pontificalis contextually cites the oratory and a porch (sacris imaginibus tam oratorium beati Silvestri quamque et porticum decoravit), would carry to identify this porch as a part of the macrona, in the immediate vicinities of St. Silvester oratory.
On the basis of the re-examination of the sources I made, I can say that probably the porch with the tower and the triclinium rose in the place where later Leo IIIrd built the Aula Concilii. In the central Middle Ages, the denomination palatium Zachariae, in fact, was still conserved for the zone where you approached by the stairs linking the Savior basilica with the papal palace. The configuration of the porch with the tower had certain analogies with the Chalkè of Constantinople and it seems to have played an important role in the genesis of the architectonic typology of the house-tower and more generally for the fortune of the tower as monumental and representation structure in Carolingian age (I reminded both the tower built by Adrian Ist in the Patriarchio, and the original aspect of the towered-entrance of the SS. Quattro Coronati Abbey and of the Tre Fontane Abbey). The dialogue instituted by Zacharias with the Great Palace of Constantinople, beyond to a clear emulating attempt, shades also a comparison and controversy will with imperial politics, in spite of the destruction of the Christ of the Chalkè, the roman pope, in fact, adorned the door of his porch/tower with one image of the Savior.
The paper focuses on the use of pink breccia from Gargano (in Apulia) in monuments directly commissioned by Frederick II as a precise programmatic choice, in its reference to porphyry.
Quarries of a material, with petrological characteristics similar to the coral breccia, can be identified in a locality in the western Gargano from which the breccia, used both in the architectural plastic of Castel del Monte and in many building sites connected to the so-called "school of Foggia", comes. The use of this material, after the brief Late Antique period, is resumed in Capitanata not before the second quarter of the thirteenth century and also marks the "Gothic" turn of the skilled workers in the service of the emperor (acute arch, crochet, and so on). The analysis of some buildings explains the steps that lead from Foggia to Castel del Monte, a manifesto of the mature aesthetics of Frederick II, passing through Pantano, San Severo, Lucera, Lagopesole.
The ideological value of the pink breccia seems to be confirmed by its presence in the tomb, containing Frederick II’s entrails, which had been erected in the cathedral of Foggia.
It seems that the area used for the private residence of the popes, rich also of representation rooms, developed in the oriental zone of the palace. It is reasonable to think that the Vigilio basilica rose in this area, and was later obliterated from the triclinium maius of Leo IIIrd, not far away from the Theodore basilica. St. Sebastian oratory, probably, was dislocated near this one, too: location that had to generate confusion between Theodore basilica, St. Sebastian oratory and St. Sylvester oratory (prescinding from the room visible near the base of the Sancta Sanctorum and known with a dedication to St. Sebastian, in connection of wich it is said that there are no sufficient reasons to identify it as the oratory founded by Theodore). The decoration of the oratory of St. Sylvester is included in the program of restoration and renewal promoted by Zacharias, too. The circumstance that the Liber Pontificalis contextually cites the oratory and a porch (sacris imaginibus tam oratorium beati Silvestri quamque et porticum decoravit), would carry to identify this porch as a part of the macrona, in the immediate vicinities of St. Silvester oratory.
On the basis of the re-examination of the sources I made, I can say that probably the porch with the tower and the triclinium rose in the place where later Leo IIIrd built the Aula Concilii. In the central Middle Ages, the denomination palatium Zachariae, in fact, was still conserved for the zone where you approached by the stairs linking the Savior basilica with the papal palace. The configuration of the porch with the tower had certain analogies with the Chalkè of Constantinople and it seems to have played an important role in the genesis of the architectonic typology of the house-tower and more generally for the fortune of the tower as monumental and representation structure in Carolingian age (I reminded both the tower built by Adrian Ist in the Patriarchio, and the original aspect of the towered-entrance of the SS. Quattro Coronati Abbey and of the Tre Fontane Abbey). The dialogue instituted by Zacharias with the Great Palace of Constantinople, beyond to a clear emulating attempt, shades also a comparison and controversy will with imperial politics, in spite of the destruction of the Christ of the Chalkè, the roman pope, in fact, adorned the door of his porch/tower with one image of the Savior.
Corpus della pittura medievale della Capitanata (la regione settentrionale della Puglia) dall'Alto Medioevo al XV secolo. Analisi dei cicli pittorici, anche in contesti rupestri, e dei temi iconografici, privilegiando i casi meno noti e quelli inediti, nei rapporti con quei territori che dialogarono con il territorio sotto il profilo geografico, politico, storico, culturale e religioso. I siti vengono catalogati secondo uno schema cronologico e topografico che parte dal Gargano, fulcro della religiosità della regione, con l’importante santuario di san Michele a Monte Sant’Angelo e i numerosi monasteri sorti lungo le principali vie percorse dai pellegrini. Un patrimonio spesso cancellato dalle trasformazioni architettoniche subite dalle chiese nel corso dei secoli ma che, viene ricostruito attraverso le vicende di cicli pittorici, talvolta frammentari, ma fondamentali per alcune caratteristiche formali o iconografiche, offrendo una lettura contestualizzata che evidenzia un panorama ricco e articolato, che sottolinea la centralità del territorio della Capitanata nel Medioevo.