Evidence of Romanesque architecture on Alessandro Naldi Foto: Cinzia Battaglia, Gianluca Pucci, Alessandro Puorro, Leonardo G. Terreni

Evidence of Romanesque architecture on Elba

Divided into four parishes, being under the clerical ju- found on Elba. risdiction of the bishop of Massa Marittima, the Isle of The lack of studies about this topic results in insuffi- Elba still preserves some relevant evidence of Roman- cient researches and significant answers to certain phe- esque architecture, which on the whole represents a nomena that seem to have characteristics in common typical and interesting example of the varied cultures with the Romanesque culture of , but some par- represented on the island, as it was a landing and cross- ticular exceptions. roads of trade from different areas. One of these is the odd case represented by the Church Unfortunately, the Romanesque architecture on Elba of Santi Pietro e Paolo (today dedicated to San Niccolò) hasn’t been much investigated, so the island is often at San Piero in Campo, which features a unique iconog- seen just as a cultural possession of Pisa. Actually, the raphy in whole Tuscany. The church has five aisles and Pisans ruled over the island between the 12th and 13th is divided into two identical naves with apse. It had two centuries, nevertheless no building features an evident altars, it didn’t have a high altar, as was the case of all Pisan origin, as it is the case of Corsica and Sardinia. Christian churches. This is a phenomenon to be found Indeed, no example of two-coloured churches is to be only in some specific areas of , like in the Salento

La Pieve di S. Stefano alle Trane Loc. Magazzini,

90 MILLIARIUM Evidence of Romanesque architecture on Elba

Evidence of Romanesque architecture on Elba

region, where there are four examples of sacred build- ings with twin-apses and two with a two-nave plan: the Già più di quarant’anni fa Moretti e Stopani ricon- Church of Santa Maria at Palanzano and that of San oscevano, pur senza approfondire, queste rispondenze Pietro Mandurino at Manduria1. tra elementi architettonici e decorativi dell’area volter- In Sardinia are even more examples of this kind. rana con diverse chiese elbane, citando alcuni richiami The presence on Elba of a church with these features precisi che, però, a un’attenta osservazione si possono make us recognise that the island has ever since been a estendere a una più ampia parte del romanico ‘volter- real melting pot of diverse cultures. rano’. Nevertheless, during the 12th century, the religious ar- Questi evidenti contatti li esponiamo nell’ambito della chitecture of Elba is characterised by elements typical of schedatura dei singoli edifici e dimostrano come davvero the Volterran diocese, in particular of the Alta Valdelsa. il romanico elbano sia fortemente legato a quello della This is clear in the three still standing parish churches diocesi di Volterra. Si potrà obbiettare che l’architettura and in other two dependent churches (Santo Stefano at romanica che si manifesta in questa diocesi attinge Magazzini and the Church of San Piero in Campo). comunque diversi elementi da Pisa, ma è innegabile

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che questi vengono elaborati in modo assai originale e anche segnato dall’influenza che il passaggio della via Francigena ha portato con sé. Persino l’edificio che fino ad oggi veniva citato come un tipico esempio di collegamento con la cultura pisana - la chiesa di Santo Stefano alle Trane presso Maga- zzini di Portoferraio - mostra a un’attenta analisi evi- denti richiami con la cultura plastica di alcuni edifici di rilievo di ambito volterrano, soprattutto posti nell’Alta Valdelsa. Ciò pur caratterizzandosi per la presenza di un’impronta fortemente classicheggiante soprattutto sul prospetto (fig. 2) e in certe preziosità decorative che va oggettivamente oltre la matrice volterrana per attin- gere direttamente alla fonte della cattedrale di Buscheto e Rainaldo. Lo stesso motivo, assai peculiare, del campanile a vela che s’innalza sull’asse del prospetto delle pievi di San 2 Lorenzo a e San Giovanni Battista a Campo rimanda a precisi esempi come la chiesa dell’antico spedale dei templari di San Giovanni Battista alla Ma- sere meglio verificati alla luce di un confronto sistemati- gione (Poggibonsi) - posta lungo uno dei percorsi della co ad ampio raggio che metta insieme tutti gli elementi via Francigena - e, pur in modi diversi, nella pieve di elbani e li confronti con la scultura, sia della Toscana San Giovanni Battista a Scola (Pievescola-Casole d’Elsa) che di altri territori, databile tra la metà e lo scorcio del in diocesi di Volterra. secolo XII. Analogamente la partitura delle absidi e i dettagli plas- Ad oggi affermiamo e mettiamo in evidenza gli oggetti- tici che decorano le mensole e i peducci che sostengono vi collegamenti con alcune sculture della diocesi volter- le arcatelle, ma anche le aperture cruciformi che car- rana, con la quale i contatti erano oltremodo agevolati. atterizzano i timpani dei prospetti e talvolta anche le E ciò sia perché la stessa diocesi era attraversata per gran cuspidi delle tribune, hanno evidenti richiami volterrani parte del suo vasto territorio dalla via Francigena, dove negli esempi che si trovano nella Badia a Conèo, nella cioè transitavano maestranze che percorrevano lunghe pieve di Coiano, nella pieve di Santa Maria a Cellole, distanze, ma anche perché la stessa Francigena era dif- nei capitelli della pieve di Santa Maria a Chianni presso fusamente collegata alla costa tirrenica dalle numerose Gambassi. ‘vie del sale’, che giungevano presso l’antico approdo Alle piatte decorazioni plastiche della pieve di Cellole di Vada in un ampio tratto di costa sempre pertinente al sembra peraltro rimandare il capitello figurato della vescovo di Volterra, il cui dominio arrivava fino e poco chiesa di San Niccolò a San Piero in Campo, unita- oltre l’odierno forte di Bibbona. mente alla mensola raffigurante un leone posta presso l’ingresso laterale del fianco destro di Santo Stefano a Magazzini. Si tratta comunque di confronti sempre passibili di es-

92 MILLIARIUM Evidence of Romanesque architecture on Elba

Parish of San Giovanni Battista at Ferraja (Portoferraio)

Church of Santo Stefano ‘alle Trane’ or at Magazzini The Church of Santo Stefano ‘alle Trane’ is situated on a small hill towering over the sea. To reach it, we di- vert from the provincial road to Bagnaia. Opposite the church stretches the plain of Magazzini, facing the Har- bour of Portoferraio. The Church is first mentioned in the Rationes of 1298 as ecclesia de Latrano in Ilva that paid 2.1 pound tithe to the Apostles’ Chamber: the lowest toll among the ones of Elba’s churches. It was dependent on the parish church of Santi Giovanni e Silvestro of Ferraja, which stood at three km south of the present Portoferraio and was destroyed by Turkish raids in 1544. According to the Elban historian Giuseppe Ninci, the most ill-fated event for the Church of Santo Stefano was the destruction due to a pirate raid in 1442. In 1747 a lightning struck the roof, which was seriously damaged. As a consequence, Santo Stefano was aban- doned and the liturgical vestments were moved into the Church of the Misericordia at Portoferraio. In the first half of the 19th century Santo Stefano be- 3 longed to the Senno family and in 1866 it passed to the Foresi. In 1960 Ulisse Foresi donated the building to the diocese of Massa Marittima and . In the early 1970s the church was just an overgrown ruin with bro- ken up walls. The long-lasting restoration works aimed at stopping the collapse of the structures and at repair- ing the damaged walls. Moreover roof was rebuilt, the three single-lancet windows and the two walled side doors were reopened. After the restoration, the church was served again. The building has the classical, plain iconography with a single nave with apse and trapezoidal plan, in which the width of the facade (m. 7.25 ca.) is larger than the tribune (m. 6.65 ca.), so that the side walls converge towards the apse. Moreover, the northern side is slightly longer than the southern one (m. 13.07 ca. instead of m 12.82 ca.) (fig.1).

The building features a refined wall face with regular ashlars composed of regular alberese limestone blocks,

MILLIARIUM 93 Evidence of Romanesque architecture on Elba

4 5 6

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whose colour goes from ivory white to bright yellow the underlying elements and topped with a double-ar- with intermediate tones. The stone blocks often al- chivolt trabeation, which in turn functions as a base for ternate with small ashlars and sometimes with tabular a gable on whose axis is an opening in the shape of a wedges. Greek cross. Under the pinnacle of the tribune is anoth- The face (fig. 2) is characterised by three distinguished er opening, which is in the diametrically opposite wall. orders, the lower one featuring three wide blind arches, The peculiarities of Santo Stefano in comparison with marked on both sides of the entrance by two central the other churches of Elba consist in the many architec- pilaster strips ending with a capital, while two broad tural decorations on the wall surfaces. They are mostly corner pilasters frame the first two orders. The right part present on three out of four sides of the Church (the features evident signs of damage, since the face seems northern side is excluded), and are concentrated on the to be patched in a later period, when the Romanesque external face and in the apse. Some of these decorations ashlar was clearly altered. are in precious, white marble. The second order consists of a sort of attic marked by The external south wall features an entrance door with

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9 10 two single-lancet windows on both sides (fig.3). small palm trees and rosettes that runs from the façade The archway (fig.4), flanked by two jambs composed of corner to the one with the tribune, which is decorated three big stone blocks, is crowned by an archivolt with with many plastic elements (fig. 8), It features a half- extrados, made up of seven different ashlars, having as round apse made up of a wall face consistent with the central base a massive monolithic architrave. other walls of the church; the apse is crowned by four- The archivolt rests on two carved corbels. On the right teen hanging capitals resting on fifteen carved corbels corbel, consisting of a small marble block, stands a (fig.9). zoomorphic figure, probably a lion devouring its prey (fig.5). The central single-lancet window was probably re- The left decoration (fig.6) is in sandstone and features stored. three phytomorphic elements: two rosettes of different The patterns of the corbels (fig.10) alternate human size and a small palm tree in the middle. Similar pat- faces, zoomorphic, phytomorfic and geometrical ele- terns are repeated on the two small corbels supporting ments. This type of decoration clearly recalls that of the archivolts of the two double-splayed single-lancet the crown of some Romanesque churches of the high windows on the southern wall. Valdelsa belonging to the diocese of Volterra. In par- The northern wall features a door and only one single- ticular, there are some analogies with the monastery of lancet window, but no decorative elements, just the Santa Maria a Conèo, near Colle di Val d’Elsa. same type of archivolt with extrados above the entrance This will confirm that some of the masters working on door (fig.7) Among the worn-out stone elements on the island during the 12th century were in close contact the side walls we find a frieze minutely carved with with the masters of the high Valdelsa, or they even were

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It is not easy to date the building, since we don’t know when certain patterns spread, even if it might be re- ferred to the mid-12th century and beyond, maybe to around 1170s.

Church of San Quirico at Rio nell’Elba In the vicinity of the ancient hamlet of Grassera, in the north-east of the island, on a 200 m high hill, stand the rests of the Church of San Quirico, not very far from Rio 12 nell’Elba and from the road leading to Cavo. The history of the building is closely linked to the fate the same. of both Grassera and Rio: the two villages were de- Some decades ago Moretti and Stopani noticed that stroyed by the Turkish pirates in 1534. This is proved some zoomorphic and vegetal patterns of the Church by the Grand Duke Cosimo I who in 1555 reported on of Santo Stefano had similarities with those of the par- the destruction of the two villages when he visited the ish churches of Mensano, at Casole d’Elsa and of Cellole, Island to personally check the start of some projects, near San Gimignano. among which the enlargement of the ancient town of The presence of an ashlar with carved rosettes and small Ferraja, which would become Portoferraio. palm trees placed as a crown on the external corner The church, surely dependent on the parish church of between the north wall and the tribune makes assume Ferraja, was first mentionedin the Rationes (1298- that the whole external crown of the Elban building 1303), where it is defined as ‘ecclesia Sancti Quirici was decorated with carved patterns like the church of et Menna’. This name refers to the near church of San Conèo. Bennato at Cavo, which also paid the tithes like San The inside (fig.11) is bare and features recent restora- Quirico. tion works in the roof , which has been rebuilt with No reference is known about the building history of the well-balanced wooden trusses renewing the apse cap. Church, but the remaining structures show us the pe- This features a wall face different from the one of the rimeter of the Romanesque church (15 m. approx. long half-round below and two marble corbels similar to that x 6 m. approx. wide) (fig.12), as well as the wall face of the external southern door. made up of regular alberese stone ashlars regularly laid The left corbel, much damaged, features a beheaded on both side flanks. (fig.13), While the apse cap still eagle with open wings between two lanceolate leaves preserves the original wall face for a height of about similar to those of the external corbels of the south- 1.2 m., the two walls superimposed on the ruins of the ern single-lancet windows; while the corbel on the right flanks seem to have been erected in a later period, when has patterns made up of dentils and echinus elements the structure was turned into a square chapel. in classical style, well harmonized with several elements The remains of the perimeter can be traced on the of the building. ground running from the raised side flanks.

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Parish of

Parish Church of San Michele Arcangelo at Capoliveri The parish Church of San Michele Arcangelo is first mentioned in a document of 1235, where it appears to be situated outside the town of Capoliveri. The bap- 14 tismal building ‘covered’ the ecclesiastic administration of the middle-east area of Elba. It stands on a small hill not far from the small Church of San Rocco, in an area that was probably inhabited since the times when Caput Liberum was a Roman settlement. Giacomo Mellini, who started archaeological research on the Island with his son Vincenzo, pointed out the recovery of Roman bronze and silver coins in the area around the parish church. San Michele can be accessed through a broken path that leads to the churchyard of San Michele, built in 1855, following a plague that struck Capoliveri. In 1302 San Michele owned the largest number of churches on the Island, even if we don’t know how many. A memorable historical event is linked with San Michele. 16 Pope Gregory XI celebrated the mass in November 1376, when he had to stop on Elba, because his ship sailing sion. from Avignon to Rome, was hit by a violent storm. The original Romanesque building preserves some im- In 1544 and between 1553 and 1555 Capoliveri was portant remains, which allow to retrace the iconography plundered by Saracen pirates, so it is likely that the par- of the building itself (fig.14), consisting of a plan with ish Church of San Michele was damaged on this occa- single nave with apse, a plan typical of the other three

MILLIARIUM 97 Evidence of Romanesque architecture on Elba

The small arches feature a jutting cornice on their top. As to the decorative elements described, we can notice the different type of working for the small arches, the lunettes and the overlying cornice. Only a close investi- gation could prove if it is the result of a restoration or of a particular type of working carried out during the construction of the Romanesque building. In the middle of the half-circle is a small double-splayed window with monolithic archivolt resting on two cor- nices, which are also repeated in the base of the window itself. The preserved wall covering is in a local pink-grey sandstone, forming regular ashlars made up of middle- size stone blocks. Here and then we also find granite, partially used for the second ashlar from the cornice aligned with the corbels of the hanging small arches on top of the apse. The other remains of the Romanesque wall face on the southern side feature a section with regular ashlars sim- ilar to those of the apse. As to the time of construction of the Romanesque structures, the accurate working of the blocks and the classical taste of the cornices would indicate a later period in comparison with the other churches of Elba, probably the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th centuries. Anyway, the remains of San Michele rep- 17 resent a building typical of the ‘mature Romanesque style, which replaced the original church of the Early parish churches of the island. Middle Ages. An outstanding feature of the Romanesque parish church is its remarkable volume (fig.15), the only part completely preserved. Fragments of the time consists Church of the Madonna della Neve at Lacona of remains of the northern wall face (fig.16), cwhich Situated on the road leading to Lacona, the sanctuary was swallowed in the circle of walls of the churchyard. of the Madonna della Neve stand out against the green Anyway, the perimeter of the Romanesque building can of the surrounding countryside with its 18th-century be easily traced through the internal length of the nave, architectonic style. excluded the apse 14.80 m. long and 6.20 m. wide. The whole length of the parish Church was 18.70 m. ca. The apse is also characterised by the regular geomet- The restoration campaign of the mid-20th century ric with six quadrangular pilasters which start from a brought to light in the lower part of three external walls projecting basement and end in the ten hanging small and on the inner part of the southern side (with the arches of the crown (fig.17), sThe pilasters alternate exception of the tribune), a high portion (ca 3.5 m.) of with five plain corbels coupled with the cornice itself wall face in granite and sandstone blocks with different of the pilasters, having the function of a small capital.

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nuances, laid in regular ashlars (fig.18). Parish of Marciana The wall seems to be intact only on the right side of the facade and on the whole southern side of the building, Parish Church of San Lorenzo at Marciana where it stretches with a thickness of about 0.70 m. The building is situated in a flat area dominated by the with two outer layers in bricks and the inner part filled villages of Marciana and Poggio and by the northern with a concrete-like mixture. Also the main entrance to side of Mount Perone, along the road going down to the church seems to belong to the medieval building. . The gate had an architrave with archivolt and lunette The church is first mentioned in the Rationes of 1298, on top, whose traces are still visible, even if only in the as a ‘plebes de Marcina de Ilva’. inner part. Today, one of the four parish churches of Elba, situated If we move northwards, we can notice that the exter- in the north-west part of the island, is just a ruin, after nal wall covering doesn’t have any correspondent part the first destruction mentioned by Mellini and the dev- inside. Maetzke interpreted this as the result of a re- astating raid by the Turkish pirates in 1554. assembly of the stones of the medieval wall face carried The parish church has the shape of an irregular elon- out during the enlargement of the building in the 18th gated trapezoid, which loosely reminds the church of century, when works was started to restore the damages Magazzini, where the northern side is longer than the caused by the Turkish raid of the early 16th century. opposite one (fig. 20). But unlike the one of Maga- The traces found under the present building allow to re-design the plan of the Romanesque church, (fig.19), whose size was the same as that of small churches, in this case of the Church of San Michele at Capoliveri.

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is a cruciform opening similar to those of the church at Magazzini and of the façade of Campo. The apse occupies almost the whole tribune, as it is the case of the parish church of Capoliveri, although this doesn’t feature any architectural partitioning walls or any plastic decorations (fig.22), but a small, central single-light window with double splay bearing a mono- lithic archivolt. The church also had two side doors: the first one oc- cupies the half of the southern side and features an ar- 22 chivolt with monolithic architrave with supporting small corbels, similar to the one of the façade (fig. 23). The zzini, the parish church of Marciana develops markedly other side entrance is very close to the tribune on the lengthwise, being the single rectangular nave over 19 northern side and it doesn’t have an archivolt, while the m. long. It also features a large apse. The difference architrave doesn’t rest on corbels: this might be evi- in width between the counter-facade, 6.30 m, and the dence of the fact that the opening was made in a post- tribune itself, 4.74 m. Romanesque period. The wall face of the whole building consists of ashlar courses and of granite stone bosses, which get larger in The interior, today overwhelmed by vegetation, shows the upper layers. Moreover, like in other Romanesque a plain wall face, currently at a high risk of collapsing churches on the Island, the cavity between the two fac- because of the progressive deterioration (fig. 24). ings is filled with small stones and bricks tied by a poor The light entered through the cruciform opening of the mortar. The thickness of the façade is of 0.80 m, while facade, the narrow single-light window in the apse and the one of the other walls is of 0.60 m. through three single-light windows on the side walls, all The facade features some similarities with the parish of them featuring a double splay. Church of San Giovanni Battista in Campo, since it has a The inner wall face, which mainly corresponds to the large extrados archivolt above the main entrance door, external one, is characterised by bosses in spongy mate- surmounted by a big belfry, which is preserved only in rial used for the apsidal calotte (fig. 25). the lower part of the two massive side pillars (fig. 21). In the middle, where the two slopes of the facade meet,

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The purpose of that is to make this part lighter, as it Of the building only the right wall is preserved – about stands out from the other ashlars used for the rest of 8 m in length -, featuring a wall face made up of blocks the building. It is particularly difficult to date this build- and bosses in alberese (a white local stone) and granite ing, despite the belfry being similar to the one of the arranged in horizontal, non-isodomic rows, variable in parish church of Campo, which can be referred to the height (fig.27). second half of the 12th century. The less accurate work- The wall doesn’t feature any openings, also because ing of the materials making up the wall face of San Lor- it overlooked the cliff edge dominating the valley of enzo may have a double meaning: it may be a sign of and the stretch of sea to the west of the Island. an earlier foundation than the parish church of Campo, On the other hand, the building retains only some scat- but it can also be referred to a working of poorer qual- tered stones in the inner area and around its perimeter, ity. Personally I lean towards the first one, because of whose shorter side might be about the half length of the presence of a very irregular iconography that may the longer one according to some signs which allow to state the church to the half of the 12th century, thus state the position of the northern corners. resulting the first church on Elba with a belfry on the same side of the façade.

Church of San Biagio at Pomonte Situated to the east of the Church of San Bartolomeo, Church of San Bartolomeo at Chiessi di Marciana in the parish area of San Lorenzo at Marciana, San Bia- Situated on a hilltop at approximately 450 m above gio might have been the parish church of the old ham- the sea level, the ancient Church of San Bartolomeo let of Pomonte, destroyed during the raids of Turkish preserves only some ruins featuring clear Romanesque pirates in 1553. traces. Only some parts of the perimeter walls of the church re- The building dominates the southern-eastern end of main (3.35 m high are the ruins of the external southern Elba, being situated along the road that leads from wall, where the slope is particularly steep, while 1.85 m Marciana to Pomonte and to Chiessi, whose area is sub- are the inner walls). This wall features a masonry made ject to the parish church of San Lorenzo. from a granite stone worked in bosses of different The building is oriented north/east-south/west be- size, arranged in quite regular, but not isodomic rows cause of the lay of the ground (fig.26). (fig. 28).

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The northern wall, 10.60 m long, still retains its trace on the ground. As a consequence, the short sides, of which no traces are preserved, were about 7,50 m long, thus outlining a rather squat and inclined to square building, unlike all the other churches of Elba that generally fea- ture a minimum rate of 2:1 between length and width of the plan (fig. 29).

Church of San Frediano at Chiessi di Marciana Slightly to the north of the Church of San Bartolomeo, at about 750 m above the sea level, stands the church of San Frediano, which also belonged to the parish area of San Lorenzo at Marciana. It is the largest Romanesque religious building on the It is undoubtedly the least accessible Romanesque Island and it is mentioned in the Rationes of 1298, building on Elba, since it can be reached only through where it is the most important and the most taxed a very broken path of medieval origin that from Marci- church on Elba. It was the baptismal church that in- ana goes to the place where the village of Pomonte lay. cluded the southern-western parish of the Island. Of the Romanesque building, oriented in the same di- Today the church is ruined, like the parish church of rection as San Bartolomeo, only the perimeter walls Marciana, but the mass was officiated until the early stand (fig.30), which allow to state its size and ico- 19th century, when the building was also used as a her- nography. The plan features a single hall with half- mitage. Then, in more recent times the church started circular apse, measuring about 9.5 x 4.10 m, while the to fall into ruin. still standing walls are about 0.6 m high, excluded the The plan of the building consists of a regular rectangle stones arranged on the regular row in later times in nearly 22 m long and about 9.80 m wide (fig. 31). order to use the enclosure as a sheep pen. IThe half-circular apse is flange by two walls, each of The Romanesque wall face is made up of regular, un- them featuring a single-lancet window. polished granite blocks, arranged in regular rows. The whole church has walls covered with granite stone blocks (there are still active quarries near the church), with well-chiseled blocks, decreasing in size upwards. The facade (fig. 32) is characterized by two outstanding elements: solid corner pillars with a cornice on top; a Parish of Campo belfry aligned with the facade, under which is a Greek-

Parish Church of San Giovanni Battista in Campo San Giovanni Battista is situated halfway up the hill of the southern face of Mount Perone, overlooking the villages of San Piero and of Sant’Ilario, in the area of Campo nell’Elba.

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cross opening: a motif that recurs both in the parish 32 church of Marciana and in the church of Magazzini. A large archivolt with extrados resting on a massive monolithic architrave dominates the entrance. The ma- sonry is very regular and doesn’t feature any traces of revamping works. On the sides of the buildingi (fig. 33) open three sin- gle-lancet windows with double splay symmetrically ar- ranged. On both sides is an entrance, characterized by lack of any architectural elements. The entrance of the southern wall is very close to the presbyter, while on the opposite wall it is placed halfway. The coping of the side walls and of the tribune must have consisted of a rectangular cornice without any chiseled decorations. The tribune (fig. 34) features a half-circular apse with the same type of fine masonry of the rest of the build- 34 ing. In the half-circle opens a single-lancet window, while in the side walls open as many single-lancet win- dows with double splay like the ones in the sides of the church.

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The apse (fig. 35) is crowned by a projecting cornice made up of three brick rows protruding on top, sup- ported by nine small corbels originally featuring carved human and zoomorphic figures, today hardly visible apart from two human faces. The inside (fig. 36) is plain and spacious, without any decoration, and seriously subject to further damage and collapses. A peculiarity for Elba is represented by the two pillars framing the half-circular apse (fig. 37) that continue in the large arch framing the crown composed of blocks, the key brick of which features an unrecognizable coat of arms. The parish Church of San Giovanni Battista can be dat- ed to the 1280s-1290s for the symmetry of its plan and 38 for the accurately constructed masonry face. of San Piero in Campo by its northern-western keep, erected in the 15th century. Church of Santi Pietro e Paolo in Campo, Before that, some structures of the church must have today of San Niccolò collapsed, since the present ‘inner’ facade, through The Church of Santi Pietro e Paolo at San Piero in Cam- which we enter the church, is likely to be constructed po, later dedicated to San Niccolò, represents one of during this building stage. the most important religious buildings in Romanesque The side walls were rebuilt, with the exception of the style not only on the Island but in all Italy. northern or left one, today outside the sacred place. In The medieval building was subject to the parish Church a later period was probably built the ‘external’ facade, of San Giovanni Battista, which was situated in the that is the one, which gives access to the hall opposite countryside to the north of this church, a real reference the present church, once coexisting in the space occu- point for the people of the small medieval hamlet of pied by the first two bayse (cfr fig.40), which collapsed San Piero. before the 15th century. According to the Rationes of the years 1302-1303, the Despite the revamping works of the 15th century, the Church of Santi Pietro e Paolo paid the modest amount church features a particolar iconography with its two of 1 libbra and 12 soldi. naves of the same width (fig.38): a real unicum in Tus- The building was partially swallowed up in the fortress cany, with the exceptions of the Church of Sant’Agostino

104 MILLIARIUM Evidence of Romanesque architecture on Elba

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section of the surviving left side, with a regular row of well-worked ashlars. The crown arches of the two apses are also original (fig. 42), while the apses themselves have been revamped with a small masonry composed of stone and brick splinters that repeat the one of the walls rebuilt and plastered in the 15th century, when they were also cov- ered with frescoes by an unknown Catalan painter. 39 The trace of the perimeter of the two original apses is still well visible behind the eastern wall. In the past years, Moretti and Stopani highlighted the a Vagli di Sotto in Garfagnana and of the destroyed par- similar stylistic features of the decorated capital (fig. ish church of Santa Luce, in the diocese of Pisa, both 43) in this church and of the ones in the parish Church actually featuring a major nave flanked by a smaller of San Giovanni Battista a Mensano, near Casole d’Elsa, one. which is situated in the diocese of Volterra on the bor- The same plan is to be found in the above mentioned der between the Valdelsa and the Val di Cecina. churches of Salento, while in some churches of Sardinia My personal feeling is that such similarities can be re- are still plans with two non-twin naves, such as the ferred to other parish churches of the Volterra area near church of San Saturnino a Ussana, San Michele a Vil- Mensano and of the high Valdelsa such as the parish lasili, San Gemiliano a Sestu and San Michele Arcangelo churches of Cellole near San Gimignano and of Chianni a Siddi. near Gambassi Terme. And this would confirm the clear The church on Elba with its two naves identical in shape link between the Romanesque style of Elba and the one and size, both ending with an apse derives its struc- of Volterra. ture from a liturgical pattern, according to which such The building can be dated back to the second half of a building would refer to the iconography of the Tables the 12th century, while the dating suggested by Moret- of the Law given to Moses on Mount Sinai. ti and Stopani to the last years of the 12th century An analysis of the surviving Romanesque parts shows a or to the early 13th century seems to be a bit late. regular face with rows of ashlars in grey granite marked by pilaster strips that start from the top of the base. The Church of Sant’Ilario in Campo corner of the original facade features three small arches, Situated in the upper part of the fortified village of which must have been placed there arbitrarily (fig. 39). Sant’Ilario in Campo, this small church dates back to The inner side of this surviving wall features a regular the Middle Ages, when it was dependent on the parish face with ashlars slightly reshaped in their upper part church of San Giovanni Battista. (fig. 40). The traces of the Romanesque building are visible only The inside of the church (fig. 41), today featuring only in the archivolt of the central entrance door of the fa- three bays in the place of the original five ones, pre- çade, while a photo taken during the latest restoration serves two columns in Romanesque and a semi-pillar campaign shows (fig. 43), that the central part of the close to the bottom wall. The columns end with two present façade (approx. 6.50 m) corresponds to the capitals, the one facing east being in plain quadran- whole wall face of the Romanesque church. gular shape, while the other is topped by a decorated Beside the regular row of granite ashlars, one can see capital with a dosseret. The semi-pillar ends with a plain the large corner pilaster strip that recalls the ones of the moulded capital in the shape of a truncated cone. near parish church of San Giovanni. Of Romanesque origin are also the arches which top The type of masonry and the reference to the features the supports and repeat the regular wall face like in the of the parish church on which Sant’Ilario was depend-

MILLIARIUM 105 41

43 42 Between the corner of the southern side and the facade there is a square space, which seems to differ from the ent let presume that this church was also erected in the wall features of the church building. It has been hy- second half of the 12th century. pothesized that it might consist in a small hermitage annexed to the church, as it was usual in particularly solitary places; but since the church was near a built- Church of Santa Maria delle Piane del Canale up area, the small space might have been erected in Not far from the parish Church of San Giovanni Bat- a later period using a similar building technique and tista in Campo, the ruins of the ancient Church of Santa granite ashlars. Maria, later called ‘delle Piane del Canale’, are the only The type of masonry recalls the one of the small moun- evidence of what is preserved of a pre-existing settle- tain churches suffragan of the parish Church of Marci- ment by the slopes of Monte della Quata, probably dat- ana for the rough working of the details, which are here ing back to the Etruscan period. whole ashlars arranged in accurate rows but without The remains of the church include the base of the two the precision and the isodomic features found in other side walls featuring a wall with 6-8 rows of granite ash- Elban buildings we have dealt with. lars (approx. 1.20-1.40 m) (fig. 44), topped with other revamped stones, used in recent times to build a shelter for sheep. The presence of underground structures of the half-circular apse allows us to measure the perim- eter of the building in about 8.20 m. x 4.70 m. (fig.45).

106 MILLIARIUM Evidence of Romanesque architecture on Elba

44 45

Note delle diocesi. Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca apostolica Vaticana, 1943. 1 Il più recente e qualificato studio sul romanico del territorio diocesano M. Salmi, Chiese romaniche della campagna toscana, Firenze, 1958 di Massa Marittima, che abbraccia dunque le architetture religiose elbane, E. Lombardi, Il romitorio di Santa Lucia e l’ubicazione di Montemarsa- dell’Arcipelago Toscano e del litorale tra e l’area massetana, risale le, in Corriere Elbano n. 47, 1968. a 5 anni fa: R. Belcari, Romanico Tirrenico. Chiese e monasteri medievali I. Moretti, R. Stopani, Chiese romaniche dell’isola d’Elba, Firenze dell’Arcipelago Toscano e del litorale livornese, Ospedaletto, 2009. 1972 2 Cfr See Brunella Bruno, ‘Le chiese medievali a due absidi nel Salento: G. Monaco, M. Tabanelli, Guida all’Elba archeologica e artistica dalla primi dati’, in ‘III Congresso Nazionale di Archeologia Medievale, Castello protostoria al 1700, Forlì, 1975 di Salerno, Complesso di Santa Sofia, 2-5 October 2003’, - All’In- E. Lombardi, Curiosità su Cavo e San Bennato, in ‘Corriere Elbano’, segna del Giglio, 2003, pp. 446-450. n.17, del 30-09-1979 G. Vanagolli, e il suo territorio nella storia e nella cultura, Bibliografia e documentazione Ghezzano (PI), 1983 Documenti d’archivio R. Manetti, Abitati dell’Elba. Settore marcianese, Firenze, 1984 Archivio di Stato di Pisa, Opera del Duomo, n. 1279, Atti di Andrea P. Ferruzzi, Testimonianze dell’edificazione religiosa dopo il Mille, in Pupi, 1343. Quaderni di Italia Nostra, Roma 1985 Archivio Storico Diocesano di Pisa, Instrumenta Rodulfini notarii, E, G. Maetzke, G. Trotta, La pieve di San Michele a Capoliveri, Firenze, 1260. 1987 Archivio Storico Diocesano di Pisa, Diplomatico arcivescovile, M. Casini Wanrooij, G. Maetzke, G. Trotta, Santuari elbani. La chiesa 1289/91. della Madonna della Neve a Lacona e il suo ambiente naturale, Firen- Archivio Storico di Marciana, Estimo della Comunità di Marciana, ze, 1988 1573. AA.VV., Livorno, la Val di Cornia e l’Arcipelago, Collana i luoghi della Archivio Storico di Marciana, Corrispondenza e affari diversi, fede, Milano, 2000 1816/23. R. Sabbadini, I nomi locali dell’Elba, in ‘Rendiconti dell’Istituto Lom- G. V. Coresi Del Bruno, Zibaldone di memorie, Manoscritto, Biblioteca bardo di Scienze e Lettere’, Milano 1919/20. Marucelliana di Firenze, CXXX, 1744 L. Maroni, Guida alle chiese romaniche dell’isola d’Elba, Pisa 2004 A. Cesaretti, Istoria del Principato di , Stamperia della Rosa, G. Tigler, Toscana romanica, Milano, 2006 Firenze 1788. S. Ferruzzi, Synoptika. L’isola felice, Portoferraio 2008 G.Ninci, Storia dell’Isola dell’Elba, Portoferraio 1815 M. Camici, L’Elba tra Medioevo e Rinascimento. Viaggio alla scoperta E. Branchi, Corografia fisica, storica e statistica dell’sola dell’Elba, Bi- di un’isola, Ginevra 2009 blioteca Foresiana di Portoferraio, 1839 G. Peria, S. Ferruzzi, L’isola d’Elba e il culto di San Mamiliano, Porto- V. Mellini, Memorie storiche dell’Isola dell’Elba, Livorno, 1890 ferraio 2010. F. Pintor, Il dominio pisano sull’Isola d’Elba durante il secolo XIV, Rigoli S. Ferruzzi, La città perduta di Montemarciale è a Santa Lucia, in Il (PI), 1898 Tirreno, 5 aprile 2011. R. Sabbadini, I nomi locali dell’Elba, in ‘Rendiconti dell’Istituto Lom- S. Bramanti, San Quirico, chiesa dimenticata, in Il Tirreno Cronaca di bardo di Scienze e Lettere’, Milano 1919/20. Piombino del 21-01-2014 M. Giusti, P. Guidi. Rationes decimarum Italiae nei secoli XIII e XIV. Tu- R. Belcari, Romanico Tirrenico. Chiese e monasteri medievali dellArci- scia II. Le décime degli anni 1295-1304, con nuova carta topografica pelago Toscano e del litorale livornese, Ospedaletto, 2009.

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