La trasposizione di un modello architettonico su grande scala: dalla chiesa di San Francesco di Trani al duomo di San Corrado a Molfetta

Abstract

The 10th century saw the formalization of a building model that would achieve considerable success in Benedictine foundations
between the late 11th and 13th centuries in Terra di Bari. These were the ‘domed-axis’ churches, buildings with longitudinal
development covered by three spherical domes on spandrels in succession in the nave and rampant half-buttresses in the side
aisles. The current contribution aims to reinterpret the San Corrado dome’s solution by analyzing the church and the documentary
evidence associated with the nearby, both temporally and geographically, San Francesco in Trani. Some architectural solutions
replicated on a larger scale in San Corrado appear to have their genesis in the latter. We outline the search for continuity
with the local building tradition, which aims to incorporate the architectural language of the transalpine matrix popular in the
Italian peninsula at the start of the 13th century.

Keywords : Apulian Middle Ages, Romanesque architecture, domed-axis’ churches, benedictines, San Corrado, Molfetta.