MEDIEVAL CLOISTER OF THE SANTA MARIA IN GRADI COMPLEX

Thirteenth-century cloister of Santa Maria in Gradi of Viterbo – HISTORY

The first cloister of the architectural complex of Santa Maria in Gradi is known in a dispersed Latin epigraph surmounted by the scaccata eagle – coat of arms of the Counts of Segni – of which Pope Alexander IV was part, and which the historian Scriattoli believes transcribed from another one that existed in ancient times. , near the door of the cloister: “Claustrum hoc quod cernis ad Dominicane / religionis commodum et decorem Alexander / Pope IV qui et ecclesiam consecravit, aedificari iussit, circa annum Domini MCCLVI”. Translated: This cloister that you see was built around the year 1256 for convenience and in honor of the Dominican religion by Pope Alexander IV who also consecrated the church two years later. So there is no doubt about the creator and promoter of the construction of the cloister, so much is explicit in this plaque, placed near the entrance door of the aforesaid. If Alexander IV was the financier, the architects were Nicola Pisano and his son Giovanni who, thanks to their sculptural skill and that of some masters of the local stone, managed to create something light, fine and sweet. Unfortunately, for this construction, the works went on for a long time, although Pope Clement IV, when he had his residence in the Papal Palace in Viterbo, did not deny his financial help so that, in 1289, some shops belonging to the heritage of Gradi were sold. , to pay off some debts with the stonemasons. In any case, it is certain that the cloister was completed in all its details in 1290. So from that time the claustrum was for the Dominican Fathers the place where they could meet to talk, contemplate, discuss and stroll.  € ¨ Years passed. and since time deteriorates all things, even the cloister of Gradi was going to ruin, when finally, in 1436, the friars considered it appropriate to restore it by selling some buildings that were part of their assets. reactando et reparando voltas sitas super claustrum jam aptari incoeptas ne deficiant seu ultima ruina destituantur “. Three years later, to finish those restorations which, due to the scarcity of funds, seemed never to end, it became necessary that one of the friars , certainly Antonio di Michele da Viterbo, committed the sum obtained from the sale of one of his houses.â € ¨ The Art of the Apothecaries made other repairs there, such as the restoration of the colonnade and the roof in 1447, in execution ion of a legacy of Battista Bonelli, who left seventy-five florins for this purpose. Other maintenance interventions date back to 1462.â € ¨ After this happy period, the cloister had regained that luster that always distinguished it and will distinguish it from all the other cloisters in Viterbo, so much so that in 1487 it was used as a model for the construction of the other located in the Church of Santa Maria della Quercia. The architectural concept, the paired columns, the members, the capitals and the openwork were copied. Other restorations were carried out in 1501, thanks to Alexander VI who authorized, on February 25, the friars to sell some goods for this purpose, as well as in 1509 a vineyard was sold in Celleno with the proceeds covering the vault with stone work and the repair of eleven pillars and ten balusters. The cost was forty-three ducats. â € ¨ The loving spirit of the Dominican Fathers towards their church is to be admired, who sold the goods of their patrimony to keep the artistic value of their cloister high.â € ˆâ € ¨ Things were not always rosy, however. and due to negligence and negligence, real deplorable actions were carried out, such as the one that, while renovating the paving of this cloister, tombstones of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were used, removed from the floor of the church (1546 – 1566). One of these is still near the well, it has a coat of arms with a rampant lion.â € ¨ In the cloister, during the good season, the Chapter was held there.â € ¨ With the unification of Italy, the Gradi complex was acquired by the Italian State. The complex was transformed into a prison, and the cloister was used as a “manger for the horses of the troop, as well as a place to dry the clothes of the dry cleaners and as a woodshed. It was so badly reduced that in 1891 it was necessary to replace the missing columns and restore the ruined ones. The works were completed in 1904 thanks also to the collaboration of prisoners, expert stonemasons.

DESCRIPTION

The cloister supported by as many as one hundred and sixty paired columns of white marble â € ˆis composed of ogival arches in which the emblem of Viterbo with the lion and the palm emerges. Above the arches there are rose windows with the most varied and elegant shapes. The drips for rainwater on the roofs are made up of elegant zoomorphic heads, each different from one another.â € ¨ In addition to decorative elements similar to those already present in the cloister of San Martino al Cimino, a particular refinement is found in crochet capitals of various shapes. The eastern side houses the entrance door to the chapter house whose mullioned windows, in addition to reflecting a style very close to that expressed by the architectural solutions used for the Papal Palace, denounce a series of subsequent additions to the first construction. Interesting are the paintings in the cloister that are found in the lunettes of the walls, depicting stories of the Dominican Order and of St. Dominic. III. On the top of the lunettes are depicted noble coats of arms with the names, perhaps, of the patrons, in one is: “Henricus Rocchius ff” .â € ¨ Part of the frescoes, according to Andrea Scriattoli, was made in 1620 by Giovan Giacomo Cordelli from Viterbo (1584 – 1622). The rest was integrated in 1649, under the priory of Fra ‘Felice Rocchi, by the Dominican friars expert in the brush. Â € ¨ In the sixth lunette of the southern aisle is a walled portal with the inscription AROMATARIA “pharmacy” engraved on the architrave. ¨ A well rises in the center of the cloister. Most likely one already existed in 1258, as can be inferred from a document dated 8 July of the same year, in which the news about the purchase of water to be supplied to the convent is reported. The well built in 1557 consists of a round basin that rises on two steps. The whole structure rests on a pavement obtained with reused tombstones. Above the well a pair of columns is placed to support an entablature. The well of the Renaissance style, is described by the religious of the Dominican order Giacinto Nobili when he speaks of the cloister: “in the middle of which is a cistern dug out of stone, begun in the year 1549 and completed in the year 1557 the motto Bibe AQuam de CISterna TVA / 1557 is carved on the entablature supported by the two columns “.

ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

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