La chiesa di San Domenico ad Amatrice: genesi progettuale e trasformazioni architettoniche tra XVII e XX secolo

The same method that can be applied in any scientific research applies to the study of buildings, especially for historic buildings, it is based on a starting postulate that serves as a paradigm from which to derive future considerations. In the case of the study presented here, the almost empirical axiom is rather simple, but perhaps not too trivial: 'every building is transformed'. Following the seismic events that affected central Italy in 2016, Amatrice was one of the most representative cases of how the destructive force of nature, combined with the carelessness and neglect of man, made the city completely eliminated, causing the loss of the architectures that connoted it and made its identity recognizable. The Church of San Domenico, with its related appurtenances, was one of the first buildings you would come across once you entered the city from the west entrance, before the construction of the Picente provincial road accessible from Porta Romana. Between the XIV and XVII centuries, the part of the city on which the complex stood first housed the hospital and oratory of the "S. Spirito", then the church and convent of "S. Domenico", then transformed into a barracks, warehouse, centre of fascist propaganda and finally cinema and theatre dedicated to Giuseppe Garibaldi. This contribution aims to illustrate the construction events and the architectural and urban transformations referable to the complex of the Dominicans of Amatrice, through the analysis and critical comparison of archival, bibliographic and iconographic sources.