La rete ecclesiastica in Toscana settentrionale (IV-X secolo). Dati e riflessioni alla luce del progetto CARE

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present a general overview of the formation and diffusion of the ecclesiastical network, both urban and rural, in the territory corresponding to the actual boundaries of Northern Tuscany, from the 4th century A.D. to the 10th. The research is based on the CARE project (directed by M. Jurkovic and G.P. Brogiolo), in which the author is studying and recording all the churches for such area. The diffusion of a topography of the christian buildings starts from the late 4th-early 5th century in the major towns, such as Lucca and Firenze where, by the end of the 6th, is fully spread, comprehending also important funerary buildings in the suburbia; in the rural areas, instead, the diffusion of the churches in the Late Antique centuries seems to be weaker, even though significant buildings are well known, like San Piero a Grado and others, signs of a progressive christianization of the countrysides, which will reach its heyday from the Lombard era onwards and, even more, in the Carolin...