Ab umbra lumen: affreschi inediti nella chiesa di San Nicola a Vieste

The essay focuses on some unknown frescoes in the rupestrian church of St. Nicolas of Myra in Vieste, in the Northern part of Apulia, on the Gargano mountain. The church is part of a rupestrian settlement with funerary aims, surely frequented between the IV and the VI centuries. Another phase of its life can be dated to the XII century. The frescoes, instead, can be related to two different phases: the first at the end of the XIII century and the second one to the years around 1350-1370. The graphic reconstructions help to identify some rare themes on the walls. The second phase, in particular, shows three different scenes: the Nativity, the Dormitio Virginis and the Flagellation of Christ. Some themes are connected with the Balkans and other with the Franciscan spirituality. The presence of red nimbuses in the Dormition scene can be connected with the committee of an important clergy man, perhaps a bishop of the same city.