L'arredo liturgico fisso nelle cattedrali normanne di Sicilia

The issues raised by liturgical installations in medieval Italian churches have recently been widely examined. Though the cathedrals of Southern Italy during the Norman Age have already been the subjects of several studies, research has hitherto neglected medieval Sicily. Therefore, my thesis aims to be a survey on what remains and on what has been documented of the liturgical furnishings of Sicilian cathedrals in the Middle Ages (1100-1400 ca.). The introduction is devoted to a brief status studiorum and to some methodological considerations. The following six chapters concern six churches established by Norman rulers. Each chapter is divided into three parts: the first one is about the title of the church, the second one about liturgical installations, the last one about tombs. Just few pieces survive from the medieval furnishings of Palermo Cathedral, namely some fragmentary slabs and the paschal candelabrum; conversely, all the royal porphyry sarcophagi and many episcopal tombs are still visible today. Much is known about the liturgical arrangement of Monreale Cathedral, whose transformations are extraordinarily well documented. Many fragments of slabs, capitals and column basis are exhibited among the church and the Diocesan Museum, but most medieval royal and episcopal tombs were destroyed by a ruinous fire in 1811. Almost nothing has been preserved in Catania Cathedral, whose sacred topography was richly articulated. Some fragmentary remains of the medieval furnishings are presently exhibited in the Civic Museum and in the Diocesan Museum, whereas the royal sepulchres are housed in the Virgin Chapel. Four slabs from Syracuse Cathedral’s Norman arrangement are displayed behind its baptismal font, and some of its medieval stone manufacts have been moved to the largest museums of the city. Many pieces of the Norman ambo, as well as several marble slabs from the medieval liturgical equipment of the church have survived in Cefalù Cathedral, where two medieval aristocratic sarcophagi are arranged in the southern aisle. Lastly, some stone fragments in the Civic Museum and in the Diocesan Museum of Mazara del Vallo can be ascribed to the Norman liturgical installations of the city Cathedral, namely to the episcopal chair and to the ambo. The crossing of the data provided by surviving material evidence and by written sources finally allows the formulation of significant conclusions about the functional destination of some of each church’s sacred spaces.