Nicolò a Piacenza: le prime fasi di costruzione dell’edificio e il progetto del transetto inscritto e di quello a tre navate

Abstract

In the historiographical debate on Nicolò, since the 1980s there has been a hypothesis that in addition to his role as sculptor,
he was also the co-responsible for the architectural designs of some important buildings in northern Italy, including the cathedral
of Piacenza, whose construction site, according to most scholars, was started from 1122 by workers active in Modena and
Nonantola. In recent decades, the belief has prevailed that the transept of the Piacenza building was conceived from the start of
the construction site, contrary to the hypothesis made in 1956 by Angiola Maria Romanini. e intervention therefore proposes,
through the archaeological analysis of the building under roofs and the examination of the plastic solutions, to reflect on the
acquired fact that the Piacenza transept was conceived since the first project of 1122 or on the possibility that it was inserted
later, precisely by Nicolò’s workshop, which would therefore have introduced an important modification to the initial project.
In addition to this, the archaeological analysis of the under roofs, aisles, nave, and transepts, combined with that of the sculptures
of the large circular pillars of the interior, makes it possible to formulate new hypotheses about the type of roofing envisaged
in the cathedral’s design before the insertion of the hexapartite vaults made in the first decades of the 13th century, as well
as to suggest the time of the closing of the Piacenza building site.

Keywords : Piacenza, Nicolò, constructive phases, sculpture, capitals.