The book describes the evidences of early medieval sculpture concerning Piacenza diocese and its territory. Furthermore the survey takes into consideration the territory of Bobbio monastery, founded by St. Columbanus at the beginning of 7th century, as the abbey was the landowner of a great property in this Appennines area and enjoyed the specific condition of freedom from any bishop authority. The volume starts with a wide description of Piacenza and Bobbio territories, examined through written and archaeological sources from the Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Age: it especially provides detailed informations on the transformations of the ancient historical and topographical features of the town, as well as on changes in the rural settlement, on the road system and on the landscape, in a moment when forests are particularly exploited. Taking sometimes a long time, the christianization process creates a network of new nuclei like monasteries and pievi, whose importance is possible to recognize in the Carolingian period. The catalogue examines sculptures through the analysis of ornamental patterns, the function of pieces, the sign of tools to make the survey aims to the historical reconstruction of the productive and cultural background where these handcrafts were made. The slab of the Irish episcopus Cumianus stands out among the evidences for its very high-quality work, coming from workshops related to the Pavia’s Court in the first half of the 8th century; but some more good quality pieces included in the Catalogue are remarkable, like liturgical installations of Carolingian age, quite perfectly preserved. You can find interesting evidences either all over the diocesan territory or on the mountains around Bobbio, such as the great slab with a cross from the church in the cave of S. Michele della Spelonca, near Coli, connected with a pilgrimage road towards Rome. Furthermore, you can refer to pieces coming from the monastery of Mezzano Scotti (Trebbia valley), from parish churches such as Carmiano (Nure valley), Vigoleno (Stirone valley) or Veleia (church of St. Antoninus, in the area of the Roman town). Less important sites too, keep meaningfull sculptures, like the one kept in the little church of St. Filastrius at Tosca di Varsi (Ceno valley), where the anthropomorphous image of a Knight among geometrical patterns turns out to be unusual in the Early Middle Age panorama, which prefers geometrical and vegetable subjects.

Contents:
INTRODUZIONE :
Considerazioni preliminari .- 1) Problemi di definizione territoriale - 2) La città .- 3) La circoscrizione diocesana piacentina e il territorio (poi diocesi) di Bobbio tra tarda antichità e altomedioevo - 4) I materiali scultorei

CATALOGO
BEDONIA - Drusco, chiesa di S. Maria Assunta - BOBBIO - Chiesa di S. Colombano - Museo dell’Abbazia - Materiali dispersi .- Mezzano Scotti, chiesa di S. Paolo ed edifici adiacenti - S. Ambrogio, abitazione privata - S. Salvatore

COLI
Chiesa dei SS. Vito, Modesto e Crescenza (dal sito della “Spelonca di S. Colombano”) - LUGAGNANO VAL D’ARDA Veleia, ex canonica della chiesa di S. Antonino – PIACENZA - Chiesa di S. Savino – VALMOZZOLA -Mariano, chiesa dei SS. Gervasio e Protasio – VARSI - Tosca, chiesa di S. Filastrio .- VERNASCA - Vigoleno, chiesa di S. Giorgio – VIGOLZONE - Carmiano, chiesa di S. Giovanni Evangelista - Addenda, BOBBIO S. Salvatore .- TAVOLE (I-XLIV) -ABBREVIAZIONI BIBLIOGRAFICHE .- Abbreviazioni periodici -Opere citate - INDICI - Indice analitico - Indice delle tavole


ISBN 88-7988-933-9