The local historiography of Piazza Armerina has handed down the legend of a Teutonic appropriation in Altacura’s hills of that city. This study explores this hypothesis, however, not confirmed nor refuted: the first research in the archives was negative. But it’s possible to find the remains, mostly unpublished, of the monumental complex of Medieval age, which existed before the church and the cloister that the Carmelite Order was rebuilt in the Seventeenth century, after taking office in that place in 1332. There are traces openings with pointed arches, then closed, in some external walls; an underground space probably dates back to the medieval church and has been turned into a crypt for the treatment of corpses in the Modern age; a sculptural fragment with a cross, perhaps a symbol of Holy Land’s order, was carved or was placed above the entrance to the bell tower of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth centuries, then elevated by the Carmelites.
La storiografia locale di Piazza Armerina ha tramandato la leggenda di un insediamento teutonico presso il colle Altacura di quella città. Lo studio prende le mosse da tale ipotesi, tuttavia non confermata né confutata: le prime ricerche archivistiche hanno dato esito negativo. È stato però possibile rintracciare i resti, perlopiù inediti, del complesso monumentale d’età medievale preesistente alla chiesa e al chiostro che l’Ordine carmelitano, subentrato in quel sito nel 1332, riedificò nel XVII secolo. Tracce di aperture con arco ogivale, poi murate, sono presenti in alcuni muri perimetrali esterni; uno spazio ipogeo potrebbe risalire alla chiesa medievale ed essere stato trasformato in cripta per il trattamento dei cadaveri in età moderna; un frammento scultoreo raffigurante una croce, forse di un ordine di Terra Santa, è stato scolpito o è stato reimpiegato sopra il portale d’ingresso alla torre campanaria di XIII-XIV secolo, poi soprelevata dai Carmelitani.
I Teutonici a Piazza Armerina? Segnalazioni ed ipotesi sulle preesistenze medievali presso la chiesa del Carmine
BELLA, TANCREDI MARIA
2016-01-01
Abstract
The local historiography of Piazza Armerina has handed down the legend of a Teutonic appropriation in Altacura’s hills of that city. This study explores this hypothesis, however, not confirmed nor refuted: the first research in the archives was negative. But it’s possible to find the remains, mostly unpublished, of the monumental complex of Medieval age, which existed before the church and the cloister that the Carmelite Order was rebuilt in the Seventeenth century, after taking office in that place in 1332. There are traces openings with pointed arches, then closed, in some external walls; an underground space probably dates back to the medieval church and has been turned into a crypt for the treatment of corpses in the Modern age; a sculptural fragment with a cross, perhaps a symbol of Holy Land’s order, was carved or was placed above the entrance to the bell tower of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth centuries, then elevated by the Carmelites.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
