Reimpiego dei marmi antichi in Castel Maniace a Siracusa (Sicilia, Italia)

Abstract

[EN] The Mediterranean area is characterised by the great use of marbles in the classical age, which was widely reused in subsequent eras. A similar fortune also happened in Syracuse, where many materials of the prestigious buildings of the Greek polis were used for those of the subsequent Roman city, and then to build the medieval and modern centre. An important example of medieval reuse is in the portal and in the large window of Castel Maniace in Syracuse. This contribution will highlight that most of the ancient marble reused in the portal and in the large window are spolia of the Greek and especially Roman age. In particular, the more elaborate, well-preserved and affixed according to precise dispositive and functional criteria the spoil was, the greater the prestige conferred by its use. In fact, the spolia still bears, even through the centuries, those elements dear to the symbolism of the Roman Empire, and attributable to the exaltation of the client and the valorisation of the space in which the reuse took place.