Per una filologia dei materiali e delle tecniche dell'arredo liturgico tra Roma e il Sud Italia (XI-XIII sec.). I veltri di Montecassino e altri frammenti in opus sectile e tessellatum.

Within the broad variety of marble arrangements that shaped the medieval sacred spaces, the liturgical furnishings of southern Italy (XI-XIII century) – from Rome to Palermo – were characterized by the almost ubiquitous presence of opus sectile marble inlays and opus tessellatum decorations. Thus, the stone surfaces displayed the artistic and aesthetic language of mosaic in its multiple forms. Combining historical and technical investigation with the cataloguing of ornamental patterns, this paper aims at the implementation of a philology of materials and techniques related to the medieval sacred space of southern Italy. Through this philological approach, it is possible to outline a first classification of the investigated artifacts, from marble liturgical furnshings to individual components and marble fragments. From the emblematic case of Montecassino Abbey (1071), across crucial examples located in Campania and Sicily (11th-12th century), the study allows us to formulate reliable hypotheses on the relative chronologies of these artifacts. Thus, a network of cultural interchanges emerges, attesting to the circulation of knowledge and techniques – from opus sectile to tessellatum – which between mid-12th and early 13th centuries significantly renewed the aesthetic and artistic panorama from Regnum Siciliae to Patrimonium Petri. As a result of this methodological approach, a reconsideration of the chronology of the well-known marble slabs with the so-called veltri in opus sectile and other fragmentary pieces in opus tessellatum preserved in Montecassino is proposed.