Rinascenze normanne in età di contea. La cattedrale abbaziale di Catania tra XI e XII secolo

The construction of new cathedrals was essential in Count Roger’s political strategy at the end of the 11^th century. The plant often adopted has been traced by historiography to the model of Cluny II, already landed in Normandy. The construction of the abbey cathedral of Catania took place in 1091: Roger summoned the Breton monk Angerio from Calabria, appointing him abbot. The building, altered by natural disasters, maintains the eastern portion in the Norman conformation: transept with attached structures, presbytery area and scalar apses with crypt. Talking about Cluny’s model is perhaps inappropriate, while undoubtedly nordic is the expedient of narrow passages between the apses for liturgical purposes. The crypt is a striking monumental reuse: a pre-existing space, adapted to the conservation of the relics of Saint Agatha, whose repatriation took place in 1126. A low choir was set up between the sanctuary and the eastern portion of the aisles, in turn marked by supports composite: rectangular piers with two columns flanked side by side. This ambitious project was the first step in a programmatic renaissance, sought in the recovery of classical elegance and in the experimentation of innovative characters, which led to the prestigious royal architecture.