Pulpiti in Costiera Amalfitana: cappelle private, contenitori di icone e reliquie

Abstract

Architecture in the architecture, instrument for the propagation of the word of God, container of relics and icons, “mirror” of images and prayers, the pulpit is configured as one of the major communication tools of the power of donors and their firm will to create a preferential channel of communication with God. The Amalfi Coast appears as a privileged observatory to highlight the ideological potential of this liturgical furniture, since in its territory there is a notable proliferation of pulpits, some of which in stucco, linked to aristocratic laic patrons, who add multiple features to them in hope to magnify the primary function of echoing the divine voice and to exploit it for their own salvation, while affirming the political and social role they play in the community, through the appropriation, for the purpose of personal exaltation and redemption, of liturgical spaces and functions.