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Paperback, 335 pages, copiously illustrates with colour photos, b&w maps and plans, NOT ex-library. Weight 840g. Missing the title page, else little wear. Book is clean with unmarked text, free of inscriptions and stamps, firmly bound. -- This volume documents the rupestrian civilisation of the Fasano area in Puglia, where medieval communities carved churches, crypts, and dwellings into the local limestone. Situated on the Murgia plateau between the Adriatic coast and the inland ravines of the Mezzogiorno, Fasano preserves a concentration of rock-cut sacred and domestic spaces. The text examines surviving fresco cycles that draw on Byzantine iconographic traditions, transplanted through Greek-speaking monastic settlements during a period of intersecting Byzantine, Lombard, and Norman influence. The authors analyse the stylistic evolution at key sites like the Church of San Lorenzo and the Crypt of San Procopio, tracing the transition from Oriental models toward a westernised Romanesque influence. Accompanied by a visual record of carved interiors and apsidal arrangements, the work documents sites increasingly vulnerable to water infiltration and neglect. This study contributes to the growing scholarship on southern Italian rock-cut architecture, framing these sites not as peripheral curiosities, but as significant expressions of medieval Mediterranean culture. It serves as a technical and artistic record of a unique heritage, documenting the synthesis of Eastern and Western religious art within the Bari and Brindisi hinterlands. -- Index: Introduction; Presentation; 1. Features of the Rupestrian Civilization of Fasano During the Early Middle Ages [Premis; Geographical aspect of the territory of Fasano di Puglia & area of Fasano; Road network in the early Middle Ages in relation to the rupestrian settlements in the area of Fasano; Historical period. Major events; Bibliographical sources; Dwellings, the agriculture, the society of the rupestrian settlements; Ethnic components present in the rupestrian settlements; Religious and civilian presence in rural areas during the Dark Ages; Architecture of the cave-churches; A brief outline on the presence and evolution of the figurative production of the churches of the early Middle Ages in the area of Fasano]; 2. Art of Rupestrian Civilization in Fasano During the Middle Ages [Introduction; Seppannibale; S. Lorenzo; S. Giovanni; Lama d'Antico; S. Marco; S. Vigilia; Lamalunga; S. Francesco; S. Basilio; SS. Andrea and Procopio; S. Pietro of Ottava; Ichnographical Inventory; Glossary; Index of illustrations; Bibliography] -- "Along the coastal strip stretching from Ostuni to Monopoli, where the Adriatic hinterland ascends toward the Apulian Murgia foothills, a unique and remarkable civilisation flourished between the 8th and 14th centuries. Settled within rugged clusters of caves and ravines dating back to prehistoric times, this society adopted a primitive mode of troglodytic living. Yet, through the influence of resident artist-monks, it produced a sophisticated religious and cultural expression in an otherwise elementary environment. This figurative culture laid the foundations for the significant pictorial developments of the Italian Trecento. The authors trace the rise and eventual decline of this rupestrian civilisation in the Fasano area, beginning with the 8th-century Lombard art of the Tempietto di Seppannibale. The study follows the long progression of Byzantine and Grecisant styles at sites such as San Lorenzo, San Giovanni, and Lama d'Antico, concluding with the 14th-century phase of the Crypt of San Procopio, which displays the definitive transition into Angevin artistic influences.".
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