Modelli progettuali del locus fratrum predicatorum: Ravenna (1269). Design models of the locus fratrum predicatorum: Ravenna (1269)

Abstract

On March the 2nd 1269 Philip from Pistoia, archbishop of Ravenna, in presence of a large group of persons, ordered the commune of Ravenna to assign a substantial urban area for the construction of the church, the convent and the cemetery of S. Domenico. The document describes the properties to expropriate in particular the church of S. Maria in Gallope, a turreted palatial complex whose construction dated back to the Byzantine times (VI century), and a number of houses. The centrality of the place, previously linked to the exarchal residence, thus assumed a new character oriented towards the settlement of the Dominicans in Ravenna. Subsequently, on October 19th of the same year, the municipal council ordered the extimatio of the area, and in a meeting discussed the construction modalities, including the property’s boundaries detailed description, the construction of a new road and the project’s financial details. The interest for this case study relies on the double instrumentum, archiepiscopal and municipal, testifying a concordia inter clericos et laycos that, even though noted in the communal statute for over 50 years, assumed here a specific and programmatic character. The reconstruction of the pre-existing and subsequent topography of the site, based on the emphyteutic lease documents (V-XIII cent.), superimposed on the rectified redesign of the Gregorian cadaster2, allowed an in-depth study of the design models of the locus fratrum predicatorum in Ravenna, and through the comparison with other coeval examples, the individuation of the typical formation process of the western conventual building.