Search

The paper deals with the development and settlement of female monasteries in the urban contexts of the early Middle Ages. Through a preliminary focus on the community founded by saint Cesarius in Arles during the 6th century, the article aims to identify some elements recognizable in this context and to investigate them in other towns. Important aspects like the liturgical organization of different oratoria, the placement of the burial church for the female community, and the role in the promotion of saints’ cult during the high Middle Ages represent an interesting possibility of comparison, in this case with the reality of Metz, specifically with Saint-Pierre-aux-Nonnains and Sainte-Glossinde. The last part of the paper is dedicated to a first analysis of the role and spatial organization of female monasteries in two Lombard towns: Milan and Pavia. Through a survey of the communities already existing in the 11th century and their position in the urban topography the paper opens to some remarks following the observations made for Arles and Metz, thus suggesting the necessity of an in-depth study of these north-Italian contexts.

The civil towers in Pavia are a distinctive element of the city’s architectural heritage, dating back to the Medieval Age as a statement of the lordship’s power and wealth. They constitute singularities in the urban landscape, with out-of-scale vertical development, whether in the original morphology or altered by subsequent actions. Furthermore, they are embedded in a dense urban fabric and therefore they are naturally associated with local risks for the safety of the urban setting and of its users. These peculiarities require accurate and complex documentation practices, and they foster monitoring and morpho-material mapping as preliminary actions to their conservation. The knowledge analysis that has been developed on the case study of the Clock Tower aims to systematize a documentation strategy for delivering an accurate and updated conservation status of the wall surfaces. Digital survey outputs are then developed as diagnosis tools to support intervention procedures, by highlighting deformations and deteriorations that could cause structural instability.

This contribution is devoted to the tapestry cycle of the Battle of Pavia conserved at the Museo Capodimonte in Naples. Seven tapestries compose this prestigious tapestry set that commemorates the first military success of Charles V: the battle held in Pavia on 24 February 1525. Up to now the tapestries have been interpreted as independent panels representing different episodes of the battle. In this contribution we will show that the seven panels actually originated in one single design, which we rediscovered by assembling them in a different sequence. In fact, the panels provide a description of the battle in a fabulous and unique panoramic landscape: the most monumental siege city view ever conceived in the sixteenth century. This discovery not only changes our lecture of the tapestries, but also raises numerous questions that should be addressed in future studies.

Il saggio espone le fasi dell'affermazione di Pavia come capitale del regno goto e longobardo tra V e VIII secolo, soffermandosi sulle specificità della capitale in tale periodo, come la fondazione del palazzo regio e di edifici ecclesiastici regi, la continuità d'uso delle necropoli extra-urbiche tra tardo antico e alto medioevo e l'assenza nella capitale di sepolture dotate di corredo funerario.

La conquista definitiva di Pavia da parte dei Visconti giunse alla fine di una vicenda complessa e drammatica, che vide diversi attori giocare un ruolo sullo scenario territoriale pavese: gli eserciti e le flotte viscontee, le potenze territoriali vicine come i marchesi di Monferrato, l’élite dirigente della città e in particolare la famiglia Beccaria. Il saggio esamina tanto gli aspetti tecnico-militari quanto la dinamica politica che si sviluppa in città. Sotto il primo punto di vista, l’interesse si appunta dunque sul ‘blocco’ che strinse la città, isolandola, nell’estate del 1356, sulle fortificazioni da campo e sulla loro dislocazione, sul ruolo della flotta fluviale Nella seconda prospettiva, si illustrano i contraccolpi che le vicende dell’assedio ebbero sulla società pavese, impegnata nell’ultima disperata difesa dell’autonomia municipale, sostenuta dal frate agostiniano Iacopo Bussolari in funzione di predicatore ma anche di leader politico: emergono dunque i dissensi e i contrasti politici tra i cittadini, la loro mobilitazione in armi, ma anche il fuoruscitismo.

The definitive conquering of Pavia by the Viscontis occurred at the end of a complex and dramatic situation, that saw diverse actors play a role on the territorial scene of Pavia: the armies and fleets of the Viscontis, the territorial forces like the marquis from Montferrat, the élite management of the of the city and in particular the Beccaria family. The present essay scrutinises in depth the technical-military aspects as well as the political trends that were developed in the city. Under the first point of view, the interest is, therefore, focused on the ‘block’ that tightened the hold on the city, isolating the same, in the summer of 1356, on the battlefield fortifications and their dislocation, on the role of the fluvial fleets. In the second prospective, the counterblows that the events of the siege had on the community of Pavia, engaged in the last desperate defence for the autonomy of the city, sustained by the Augustinian friar Jacopo Bussolari as a preacher but also as a political leader: therefore, the political disagreements and contrasts emerged amongst the citizens, the mobilisation to arms but also the discharging.La conquista definitiva di Pavia da parte dei Visconti giunse alla fine di una vicenda complessa e drammatica, che vide diversi attori giocare un ruolo sullo scenario territoriale pavese: gli eserciti e le flotte viscontee, le potenze territoriali vicine come i marchesi di Monferrato, l’élite dirigente della città e in particolare la famiglia Beccaria. Il saggio esamina tanto gli aspetti tecnico-militari quanto la dinamica politica che si sviluppa in città. Sotto il primo punto di vista, l’interesse si appunta dunque sul ‘blocco’ che strinse la città, isolandola, nell’estate del 1356, sulle fortificazioni da campo e sulla loro dislocazione, sul ruolo della flotta fluviale Nella seconda prospettiva, si illustrano i contraccolpi che le vicende dell’assedio ebbero sulla società pavese, impegnata nell’ultima disperata difesa dell’autonomia municipale, sostenuta dal frate agostiniano Iacopo Bussolari in funzione di predicatore ma anche di leader politico: emergono dunque i dissensi e i contrasti politici tra i cittadini, la loro mobilitazione in armi, ma anche il fuoruscitismo.