Il monastero femminile di Torba e le sue pitture murali

This paper focuses on the analysis of the mural paintings in the Abbazia di Torba. This monastery-abbey complex is located in what originally was one of the defensive towers of the castrum of Castelseprio in late antiquity, where a female monastic community has existed since the 11th century. However, the mural paintings in the tower and the architectural and decorative phases of the church of Santa Maria di Torba testify to the presence of the nuns in even earlier centuries. Both the church and the tower have been the objects of archaeological investigations that have questioned their chronologies. Therefore, this paper examines the mural paintings based on new data presented in the recent publication Torba (Va). Scavi 2013-2019, edited by Alexandra Chavarría Arnau and Gian Pietro Brogiolo, in order to develop hypotheses about the initial stages of monastic settlement at the site.