Il Duomo di Palermo e le chiese siciliane del periodo normanno. Le absidi nella lettura storiografica di Enrico Calandra

Similarly to what happened in other parts of Europe, in Italy in the late 1800s and the first half of the 20th century there was a renewed interest of historiography in the architecture of the early Middle Ages, testified by a sudden proliferation of studies.The rediscovery and reevaluation of different styles, marked by the persistence of regional building traditions, sometimes referred to as “southern Gothic”, are certainly the result of the curiosity of architects and travelers about a heritage that does not fall within canonical periodizations and the usual abacus of styles, but they are not alien to architectural theory and design practices developed between the 19th and 20th centuries on the myth of structural sincerity, the relationship between form and function, and of the search for a common Mediterranean architecture. Several scholars from Emile Male, to Raymonde Rey, from Émile Bertaux to Pierre Lavedan, and from Gustavo Giovannoni to Paolo Orsi, addressed new historiographical categories, regarding and involving traditionally peripheral places in major histories of architecture: Provence, the east of Spain, and southern Italy and its islands.In fact, this interest in the early years of the Middle Ages, often lacking documentary evidence and dotted with architectural creations of uncertain date, coincided with a time when, in Italy, architects claimed history as their own field of research, proposing methods and tools different from those normally used by art historians. In addition to the strength of the stylistic analysis and iconographic reading, architects started to match (and sometimes contrast) elements derived from the structural interpretation of a building, from structural reasons, from distribution requirements related to the functional program, applying skills and techniques typical of architects to the field of historical research.This is the context in which Enrico Calandra and his school worked.
 Since 1913, after winning the competition for adjunct architect in the Royal Delegation to the restoration of the Cathedral of Monreale, Enrico Calandra was confronted with one of the great Norman cathedrals on the island. As adjunct architect until 1919 and then full architect until 1926, when the Delegation was suppressed, Calandra had to deal with delicate issues concerning the works on the Cathedral. Direct and profound knowledge of the building opened the way to one of the research paths that Calandra would pursue until the end of his life, namely that of the great Norman cathedrals in Sicily.This theme would be discussed and handed down from teacher to pupil (and sometimes vice versa) over several generations: Antonio Zanca devoted himself to the study and surveying of the Cathedral of Palermo since 1899 and continued to examine and study the Cathedral of Palermo until the publication of the book La Cattedrale di Palermo in 1952. Enrico Calandra was engaged in an interrupted reflection on the same issue that led to an intense dialogue – as testified by beautiful letters – with his mentor. Giuseppe Samonà, Calandra’s assistant in Messina, would concentrate his studies on theCathedral in Cefalù. In Messina Calandra would also study the Norman vestiges of the Cathedral unveiled by collapses caused by the earthquake of 1908.
It became a genuine research team that worked synergistically on the Norman period under Calandra’s direction; only the comparison of the different cathedrals would reveal recurring characters and peculiarities, would make it possible to hypothesize a spread of different styles in the east and west of the island, would shed light even on architectural buildings that, though centuries away, would take the Norman cathedrals as their model.The question of the apses and sanctuary became one of the fundamental elements on which to base dates and interpretations; the analysis of the apses, from a constructive, distribution and decorative point of view, through surveys and reconstruction drawings, led Calandra to develop the first reference models for the cathedrals, the relations of derivation and filiation between different cathedrals, the forms of a same element in smaller and less important churches, and the long legacy of the Norman model.