Medioevo superstite: ciò che rimane della scultura angioina a Manfredonia e a Torre Alemanna

The contribution focuses its attention on the architectural sculpture of two important centers of the medieval Capitanata: Manfredonia and Torre Alemanna. Of both the sites are regularly analyzed some sculptures related to their monumental contexts as well as some erratic pieces now kept in private collections or museum institutions in the area. Aspects of primary importance for the understanding of the artistic dynamics active in Puglia during the Angevin domination emerge, in particular the use of a fairly cohesive decorative language throughout the region and the proliferation of lily morphemes as a reference to the ruling family. Both religious and secular monumental sculpture, as well as funerary sculpture, participate in this phenomenon. In this examination, the utmost attention is paid to two cardinal monuments for the history of Manfredonia, the churches of San Domenico and San Francesco, whose decorative apparatus, almost entirely unpublished, is here analyzed for the first time. There emerges a dense network of relationships with Cistercian artistic culture, whichis flanked, almost by contrast, a tendency to public display typical of the Angevin age, but dimensioned on the basis of the recipient context.