Medioeval architecture

The geographical area of Ligurian Apennines identified with the expression "Quattro Province" (Four Provinces, an area at the borders of the provinces of Alessandria, Genova, Pavia, and Piacenza) includes territories of different administrative institutions, but characterized by similar cultural features. Analogies are found in popular traditions (e.g. music, local festivals) and in building types. In particular, the most ancient examples of local architecture, both civil and religious, have common technological features, that characterize this area in a peculiar way. Studies about Longobardic documents and medieval material evidence show that the activity of the monasteries determined real urban planning: after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the territory was dominated by severe decline and economic crisis, even though this area was important for pilgrimage and commerce (Salt road, Via degli Abati, Via Postumia). The organization in monastic cells, each with its own economic function, is still recognizable in recurring toponyms, evocative of specific types of cultivation or farming (e.g. Pecorara, Porcile, Pometo, and Noceto). The building activity was not spontaneous, but it had been entrusted to craftsmen who planned constructions according to precise design, using cultured technologies and defined measures (eulithic architecture1). More recent rural buildings often have reused materials of pre-existing constructions. Even if they present modifications, rural buildings have the main elements of the eulithic architecture, which certainly had to represent a model for local inhabitants.

There are several examples of Cosmatesque art in the Church of Santa Maria di Castello in Corneto. Only two, the pavement and baptismal font, are unsigned. The rest were produced by the same family of Roman marbleworkers. From the inscriptions it’s clear that the family had an absolute monopoly over their workshop for about eighty years, three generations. This paper focuses on the main portal, “marvellously made” (fecit optime) by Petrus Ranucii in 1143, and his brother Nicolaus’ double lancet window above. The two were produced more or less simultaneously. It’s not just the quality of the formal elements and the splendid marble and glass paste decoration (unfortunately all but vanished) that draws the eye of academics. It’s also the fact that as far as we know they are the earliest known examples of “external” Cosmati artwork. Until then the family appears to have limited itself to pavements and church furnishings. The splendour of the mosaic decoration of the portal transforms it into a virtual “Doorway to Heaven”. Its composition differs considerably from other portals produced by Roman marbleworkers in Rome itself and the surrounding Papal States. The double lancet window is one of a kind in the vast selection of architectural and ornamental Cosmatesque artwork.

Nella chiesa di Santa Maria di Castello a Corneto sono presenti numerose opere cosmatesche, tutte attribuibili – con l’eccezione del pavimento e del fonte battesimale, che sono privi di firme  – alla stessa famiglia di marmorari romani, i cui membri, come indicano le evidenze epigrafiche, lavorano in assoluto monopolio nella fabbrica per circa ottanta anni e nell’arco di tre generazioni.
Il saggio si concentra sul portale maggiore, “fatto mirabilmente” (fecit optime) da Petrus Ranucii nel 1143, e sulla soprastante finestra a bifora, eseguita all’incirca nello stesso periodo dal fratello Nicolaus. I due manufatti si impongono all’attenzione degli studiosi non solo per le qualità formali e per la bellezza delle decorazioni in marmo e pasta vitrea – purtroppo in gran parte scomparse – ma anche perché, allo stato attuale delle conoscenze, rappresentano i più antichi interventi ‘esterni’ realizzati dai Cosmati, che fino a quel momento sembra si fossero dedicati esclusivamente alla progettazione dei litostrati e degli elementi dell’arredo presbiteriale. Il portale, che nello splendore dei mosaici assume la valenza di ‘Porta del Paradiso’, dal punto di vista compositivo si differenzia notevolmente dalle altre strutture d’ingresso realizzate dai marmorari romani nell’Urbe e nei territori della sua ‘Periferia’ posti sotto il controllo pontificio, mentre la finestra a bifora rappresenta a sua volta un unicum nel vasto repertorio architettonico e ornamentale cosmatesco.

Il nostro censimento prosegue nel vero cuore del Seprio, esplorandone lo storico capoluogo e ricostruendo le vicende della rocca della vicina Castiglione e dell’omonima famiglia. [Castel Seprio, Torba, Castiglione]
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Oggi meno assai meno visibili di un tempo, i tre castelli dei Pusterla e dei Castiglionisorsero al limitare tra l’alta pianura e le colline, tra Venegono Superiore e Tradate. [Tradate, Venegono Inferiore, Venegono Superiore]
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Completiamo l’indagine in un territorio davvero denso di fortificazioni minori, ignorate non soltanto dall’archeologia, ma anche dalla storiografia. [Lonate Ceppino, Vedano, Caronno Corbellaro, Gornate Superiore, Gornate Inferiore, Morazzone, Castronno, Caronno Ghiringhello, Vico Seprio]