Le fondazioni dei frati predicatori in Sicilia tra XIII e XVIII secolo: un primo bilancio storiografico

The historiographical literature dedicated to the architecture of the Friar Preachers in Sicily, if one excludes the few studies on the complexes in Palermo, which are anyhow focussed on the churches only, is still substantially limited to the sporadic studies by local scholars or members of the Order on the history of the Dominicans in Sicily. The aim of our research, therefore, was to outline a general framework that could serve as a stepping stone for further research. It was first of all necessary to carry out a census of all the Dominican architectural complexes in Sicily, in order to determine the overall dimensions of the phenomenon and its chronological and territorial articulation, and then match it with the unfolding of historical events within the Order and the Kingdom’s socio-political context. Therefore, four main periods were identified with clear distinctive features: 1) from 1220 to 1250; 2) the 150-year period between the second half of the thirteenth century and the whole of the fourteenth century; 3) between the first decade of the fifteenth century and the 1580’s; and 4) between the seventeenth and the first half of the eighteenth centuries. Starting with this cognitive basis, the following analytical phase focussed on identifying the original architectural layout of the monastery complexes and any shared settlement strategies - in relation to the different periods of their construction and the different social forces involved (municipality or feudal nobility). In drawing an overall balance, it can be concluded that the spread of the Friar Preachers in Sicily, rather slow in the long initial phase spanning the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, was a macroscopic phenomenon substantially linked to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Moreover, the Order’s settlement took place following the logic of a widespread presence of small communities throughout the Kingdom, rather than through the construction of large complexes in major cities. The only exception to this logic was the Dominican community in Palermo.