Evidence of Romanesque architecture on Elba 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 Tuscany, 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 Italy, like in the Salento La Pieve di S. Stefano alle Trane Loc. Magazzini, Portoferraio 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 Article in english Artikle auf deutsch ubersetzt www.milliarium.it/elba/art10.html MILLIARIUM 91 Evidence of Romanesque architecture on Elba 1 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 Marciana 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 Populonia. 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 7 8 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.