Architettura a Palermo nel primo Cinquecento: la complessa genesi della chiesa di Santa Maria della Catena e di altri cantieri coevi

The identification of some anomalies in the interior of the sixteenth-century church of Santa Maria della Catena in Palermo suggests the possibility of a reinterpretation of the construction process and the identification of a change of design at the end of the second decade of the sixteenth century. The sequence of documentary data that has emerged so far and the comparison with some contemporary church buildings (where sudden changes in the program in the elevations are often a rule) bring out the lively multilingualism prevailing in the city in this phase and the debates that derive from it. At the same time, the entrepreneurial protagonism (not without competitors) of the master Antonio Belguardo stands out in the pursuit of a third way, an alternative to the Gothic-Renaissance combination, identifying in the local past and above all in the architecture of the Norman Kingdom of the twelfth century the models to be imitated.