La pietrificazione del paesaggio costruito fra X e XII secolo in Puglia centro-settentrionale nel panorama edilizio del Mezzogiorno: i dati archeologici

The petrification of the build landscape between the 10th and 12th centuries in central-northern Apulia in the building context of the Southern Italy: archaeological data. In central-northern Apulia, the period between the second half of the 10th and first half of the 11th century stands as a crucial moment for the return to stone building. However, only from the end of the 11th century and especially in the twelfth, starting from religious architecture, a more refined lithotechnics spread (characterized by quarry blocks and by an accurate finish of the surfaces); they can be read as an indicator of new building practices, probably connected with the circulation of skilled workers in the Norman South, also from central-northern Europe, and with the experiences of the large monastic construction sites activated in central-southern Italy, of 'international' type. A series of archaeological data in central-northern Apulia, which are presented in the text, supports this line of interpretation; the evidence recomposes a framework that finds terms of comparison also in other districts of Southern Italy. With regard to housing, the data indicate a significant use of stone in major urban centers since the 10th-11th century, even in simple domestic architecture, although combined with other materials, including perishable ones; otherwise, in the secondary poles and in the countryside, long-term habits, the result of traditional knowledge, seem to be prolonged, probably managed in an autarkic way by the communities themselves. The text offers a reading of the contexts in which these trends matured and at the same time questions the socio-economic, cultural and material dynamics which can explain their genesis and developments.