Note per lo studio dell’architettura delle prime fondazioni mendicanti in area pugliese (XIII-XIV secolo)

The arrival of the mendicant orders in the Apulian area is to be circumscribed between the last quarter of the 13th century and the first decades of the following century, in the period of Angevin domination in southern Italy. For this reason, it is necessary to investigate the orders’ architectural production in a wider viewpoint that takes in consideration the royal patronage in the area and in the entire Kingdom of Naples. This is a chapter that is only marginally explored by historiography. The reasons are to be found in the substantial loss of archival material and the radical transformations that the complexes had suffered over the centuries. The latter played an important part in the definition of the towns during the 14th century; placed on the borders of the urban centre, they became central places in the expansion of small towns. In order to understand their original architectural features, three well-preserved ecclesiastical structures were analysed, on which it was possible to carry out an initial explorative investigation. These are the church of San Francesco in Lucera in Capitanata, the church of San Francesco in Bari in Terra di Bari and the church of San Domenico in Taranto in Terra d’Otranto. In the first two, a simple single-nave model is adopted in which decoration is concentrated in the apses and on the façade. The third would appear to be indebted to foreign experiences for which some reasons will be investigated.