Nuove ricerche su sequenza, cronologia e contesto degli affreschi di Santa Maria foris portas di Castelseprio

During 2012-2013 new researches on the church of Santa Maria foris portas were conducted. These include: (a) a stratigraphic analysis of the walls, with particular attention to the plaster and the frescoes of the eastern apse; (b) a revision of the excavation data of the 80s; (c) the excavation of a tomb in front of the atrium of the church; (d) new systematic 14C dating of wood and mortar entrusted to three different laboratories; (e) a study of the historical and artistic cycle of frescoes in the apse east; (f) a study of the graffiti engraved on the frescoes.

The results suggest two distinct phases of construction and decoration of the church. At the latest, that the 14C determinations place in the mid-tenth century, relates the famous cycle of frescoes of the eastern apse.