Le "basiliche doppie" paleocristiane nell'Italia settentrionale: La documentazione archeologica

Northern Italy plays a leading role in the discussion on the "double churches", which actually arose from the results of the excavations in the precincts ofAquileia's basilica and ofKrautheimer's analysis of the tradition on Pavia's cathedral. In the long run, the presence of a Early Christian group consisting of two churches has been maintained for many episcopal cities of the region, often on the ground of later evidence, mainly the early medieval or even medieval organisation and/or double dedication of the cathedral. As a matter of fact, the archaeological evidence is limited to a minority of cities (Aquileia, Brescia, Concordia, Grade, Nesazio, Parenzo, Pola, Verona, Trento, Zuglio, to which we can add Pavia and Torino, where a double cathedral in the fifth century is suggested by reliable sources); it presents, moreover, many problems concerning the relative and absolute chronology, the structural development, the function of the two buildings. With the exception of the Theodoras 'complex ofAquileia, these seem to be in general of different dimensions, at times of different plan (Concordia), and constructed in successive times; the side by side setting of the two churches seems prevailing. It is worth remarking that the series includes a complex which was not a cathedral (Nesazio), on the other hand it does not extend to the diocesis of the Ravenna's metropolis.