ARCHITETTURA SACRA IN DAUNIA TRA TARDA REPUBBLICA E PRIMO IMPERO IL TEMPIO IN LOCALITÀ SAN LEUCIO A CANOSA

Abstract

Within the wide and varied panorama of the Hellenistic monumental and artistic patrimony in Italy,
one of the most significant examples is surely the temple lying below the Christian basilica of San
Leucio at Canosa di Puglia, one of the most imposing and important examples of ancient Italian sacred
architecture, both in size and in the quality of the surviving remains. Its dimensions, the sophistication
of its architectural decoration and its significance topography and landscape of Canosa, all
combined to make it an impressive and sumptuous building without precedent in Daunia.
Despite its undoubted importance for the study of the area, however, there is considerable debate
over the reconstruction of several important aspects of the Canosian monument, beginning with the
precise definition of its plan and architectural style and with its chronology (end IV-III century BC
or first half of the II century BC).
In this context, the recent re-opening of investigations at San Leucio by the Dipartimento di Scienze
dell’Antichità dell’Università “Sapienza” in Rome, has led to the acquisition of new data which
now makes it possible to propose a more informed and coherent reading of its archaeology and to
formulate new interpretative theories about it.