Chiesa e sepolture: simbiosi e alterità in una città di fondazione tra IX e XV secolo

Abstract

Cencelle is a little town in Northern Lazio, founded by Pope Leo IV in the mid of IX century and urban center until the mid of XV century. Archaeological excavation have exposing the early medieval episcopal church and its radical restructuring in the XII century. The two churches are in the center of the town and condition the entire urban topography; both have around the respective cemeteries, with numerous tombs. Many burials, all with archaeological and anthropological analysis, has allowed to reconstruct spatial hierarchies, relationship with the liturgy and with the funeral ritual, depositional choices and their variation through the centuries. The relationship between church and tombs is not limited to a choice to bury inside or outside the church, but is articulated with passages and locational choices that link funeral, urban community, deceased, depositionr. The church, cornerstone of the town's structure for position and visibility, becomes the central place for urban life, but also in the topography of death, with privileged burials, reserved areas, immaterial rituals.