ARCHEOLOGIA E ICONOGRAFIA CRISTIANA E MEDIEVALE

The course consist of two part. The first part (prof.ssa Lucia Arcifa) aims to provide the basic knowledge related to the debate on Christian and medieval archeology and to the main problems of archaeological research, to reflect on the methods of construction of the archaeological source and on the complexity of historical reconstruction processes starting from the use of archaeological sources in comparison with the documentary sources. The second part (prof.ssa Giulia Arcidiacono) aims to illustrate the genesis and development of sacred images from the Early Christian age to the Middle Ages. The relationship between each iconographic theme and textual sources will be analysed giving examples in different artistic media (monumental painting, mosaics, sculptures book illumination, luxury arts) and taking into account social and historical background. On the whole, the course aims to provide basic knowledge on the main monumental contexts, on the architectural heritage on the themes of figurative culture in relation to the development and organization of Christian communities and the phenomena of transformation of late antiquity; the purpose is also to illustrate the peculiarities of medieval iconography and to highlight the relationship between images, objects, ritual places and textual sources.

Frontal teaching e guided tours at the main monuments and archaeological area

MODULO A (prof.ssa Lucia Arcifa)

1. Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages: periodisation, historiographic debate and historical profile
2. Christian and medieval archaeology: history of studies and perspectives of research in Italy
3. Archaeology and material culture: the construction of archaeological data
4. The formal language of late antiquity. The birth of an Early Christian art.
5. Christian cemeteries. Development of the catacombs. The martyr cult
6. From the domus ecclesiae to the Christian basilica
7. The civitas christiana: urban transformations between the Late Antique and the High Middle Ages.
8. Early Christian and Byzantine Syracuse: from cemeteries to holy shrines

MODULO B (prof.ssa Giulia Arcidiacono)

1. Genesis and development of Christian iconography
2. The «sign-image»
3. Narrative images
4. Medieval iconography and object-image
5. The ritual place and its decoration
6. Inventiveness and seriality of medieval images
7. Public and private images in Sicily: from the Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages
8. Byzantine and Medieval Syracuse: the holy images

Guided tours of the catacombs of Syracuse and the main monuments of Christian and medieval Catania are planned

MODULO A (prof.ssa Lucia Arcifa)

Methodology and historical debat

1-3. V. Fiocchi Nicolai, Archeologia medievale e archeologia cristiana: due discipline a confronto, in S. Gelichi, Quarant’anni di Archeologia medievale in Italia, numero speciale di Archeologia Medievale 2014, pp. 21-31.

Early Christian Art (paintings, sculptures)

4. R. Bianchi Bandinelli, Roma. La fine dell’arte antica, Milano 1970, pp. 1- 83.

Catacombs

5. V. Fiocchi Nicolai, Origini e sviluppo delle catacombe romane, in V. Fiocchi Nicolai, F. Bisconti, D. Mazzoleni, Le catacombe cristiane di Roma. Origini, sviluppo, apparati decorativi, documentazione epigrafica, Regesburg 1998, pp. 6-69

Archtecture

6. A. Chavarria Arnau, Archeologia delle chiese. Dalle origini all’anno Mille, Roma 2014, pp. 11-153

Early Christian and Byzantine Syracuse: from cemeteries to holy shrines

7-8. M. Sgarlata, Dai cimiteri ai luoghi santi. Le trasformazioni del suburbio siracusano, in G. Volpe-R. Giuliani, Paesaggi e insediamenti urbano in Italia meridionale fra tardo antico e alto medioevo, Atti del Secondo Seminario sul Tardoantico e l’Altomedioevo in Italia meridionale (Foggia – Monte Sant’Angelo 27-28 maggio 2006), Bari 2010, pp. 253-271.

MODULO B (prof.ssa Giulia Arcidiacono)

Early Christian Iconography

1-3.A. Grabar, Le vie dell’iconografia cristiana. Antichità e Medioevo, a cura di M. Della Valle, 4 edizione, Milano, Jaca Book, 2018, pp. 11-58.

Medieval Iconography

4-6. J. Baschet, L’iconografia medievale, Jaca Book, Milano 2014, rist. Milano 2019, pp. 17-67, 143-183

Public and private images in Sicily: from the Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Age

7. M. Sgarlata, La cultura figurativa in Sicilia tra vita pubblica e vita privata, in Arti Minori e Arti Maggiori. Relazioni e interazioni tra Tarda Antichità e Alto Medioevo, a cura di F. Bisconti, M. Braconi, M. Sgarlata, Roma, Tau Editrice, 2019, pp. 145-170

Byzantine and medieval Syracuse: holy images

8. G. Arcidiacono, «Aldilà» dell’oggetto. Gli attributi dei Santi nella decorazione pittorica dell’Oratorio dei Quaranta Martiri a Siracusa, in Arti Minori e Arti Maggiori. Relazioni e interazioni tra Tarda Antichità e Alto Medioevo, a cura di F. Bisconti, M. Braconi, M. Sgarlata, Roma, Tau editrice, 2019, pp. 171-196

Please remember that in compliance with art 171 L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.

For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on Copyright).

All the books listed in the programs can be consulted in the Library.