10.6092/issn.1973-9494/17362
application/pdf
1973-9494
17362
en
Giovanni Travagliato
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Conservation Science in Cultural Heritage
cultural institution
The Steri, the historical site of Palermo University: past, present, future
Text.Serial.Journal
https://conservation-science.unibo.it/
22
Articles
2023-07-20
2023-06-23
2023-07-20
2023-07-20
325-382
CSCH
Giovanni Travagliato
2022
10.6092/issn.1973-9494/17362
325
Dipartimento Culture e Società, Università di Palermo, Italy
1973-9494
cultural institution
en
382
The Steri, the historical site of Palermo University: past, present, future
https://conservation-science.unibo.it/article/download/17362/16543
22
     Over the decades, a sequence of events has marked the recovery of
the Steri and its end use: in 1939 it was an art gallery, in 1958 it became
the Congress Centre of the Regional Department of Tourism, in 1967, at
the request of the Rector, Gerbasi, and by concession of the State Prop-
erty administration, it was provisionally used as the rector’s offices.
     In subsequent years, there was restoration work, the study of Ar-
ab-Norman monuments and underground exploration, with the discovery
of Arab columns and archaeological finds from the Middle Ages.
     In 1970, with the Rector, D’Alessandro, work started on the Steri’s
recovery, renovation of its interior, and its final use as a rectorate, which
included La Grutta’s appointment as rector there in 1984.
     With the final operational stage of the works, during Melisenda Giam-
bertoni’s (1984-99) rectorship, and its definitive completion, under the
Rector, Gullotti, in 1999, an act to concede the state property complex of
the Steri to the University of Palermo was stipulated.
     It was this glimpse into the Steri’s history, and its exceptional innate
patrimony, with the stratification of events that have occurred over the
centuries, which led to a first edition of the volume dedicated specifically
to the ceiling of the Sala Magna – the Great Hall – published in 1975, fol-
lowed by a new edition in 2006, entitled Il soffitto della Sala Magna allo
Steri di Palermo, by the distinguished art historian, Ferdinando Bologna.
     With this brief introduction, I would like to underline how this paper
focuses on the most significant aspects of the Steri, which is of extraordi-
nary importance for the city of Palermo, nationally and internationally.
     In this regard, although already the object of attention and study by
visitors and scholars, I also wish to highlight how the building described
and presented in the Journal Conservation Science in Cultural Heritage,
whose international scientific acclaim is undoubtedly well known, can in-
creasingly become the object of further reading, interest and study.
     However, there is another aspect I would like to underline, by turning
your attention to the incidental and distinct backgrounds of the paper’s au-
thors characterized by the integration and synergy, from a scientific point of
view, represented by the fact that they are technicians and historians, thus
responding to the principles on which the Journal Conservation Science
in Cultural Heritage has been based from its beginning and throughout the
more than twenty years of its publication: interdisciplinarity and interna-
tionalization. This paper is a concrete example and an emblematic result
in the way the Journal addresses issues in the field of culture.
     It is with deep gratitude that I address my thanks to the Authors of this
paper, also with respect to the message it conveys and for the role it will
have for the University of Palermo, and for Sicilian, Italian and internation-
al society. On this point, I would like to take up the words used by the
Rector, Silvestri, in his premise to Ferdinando Bologna’s book, underlin-
ing the “... strong reference to culture and to the study of the past, to the
love for culture, to the duty to preserve its sources and testimonies.”
                                                    Massimo Midiri
                                              Rector of Palermo University
T    HE STERI, THE HISTORICAL SITE
     OF PALERMO UNIVERSITY: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE


   Salvatore Lorusso*
   Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences

   Franco Palla
   Dipartimento STEBICEF
   Università di Palermo, Italy

   Maria Concetta Di Natale, Giovanni Travagliato
   Dipartimento Culture e Società
   Università di Palermo, Italy

   Keywords: Palermo University, historical value, iconographic value, cultural institution



   1. Introduction

    The exceptional importance of Ferdinando Bologna’s volume “The ceiling of the
Great Hall at the Steri of Palermo”, published in 1975 and reprinted in 2002 for the
celebration of the bicentenary of the institution of the University of Palermo, has found
ample confirmation in the enthusiasm it aroused among the educated members of the
public and specialists.
    However, the scientific complexity of the study, its ample treatment of the subject
and, almost exclusive circulation among the limited number of scholars on the subject,
prompted the creation of an informative edition, which is no less accurate or rigorous,
for the benefit of a wider, less specialised public, who is nonetheless interested in the
innumerable cultural problems posed by the object of the research.
    Thus, it is hoped there will be renewed interest in this work of extraordinary monu-
mental and artistic value and that the city and the Region are reminded that, in addition
to the many treasures they possess, this particular treasure, whose history spans more
than six hundred years, is the history of Palermo itself.


   2. The Steri, Palermo: historical note

     About 650 years ago, in July 1380, the Chiaromonte family and specifically Manfre-
di III, at the height of his fortunes, completed the construction of the baronial palace,
called the Steri1 of Palermo. It was built near the sea, on the edge of the citadel of the
Arab Emirs, and was a fortress rather than a home, a symbol of family pride, a family
who felt they were the heirs of the authentic Sicilian spirit (Figure 1).



   * Corresponding author: salvatore.lorusso@unibo.it
S. Lorusso, Franco Palla, M. C. Di Natale, G. Travagliato - The Steri, the historical site of Palermo University: past, present, future




                                                                                                                                                            Figure 1. Chiaromonte, Steri, Palermo (source: Wikipedia).


                                                                                                                                                Eleven years later, the fate of the Chiaromonte family changed. In 1391, after Man-
                                                                                                                                          fredi died, his successor, Andrea, was unable to stand up to the Aragonese army that
                                                                                                                                          landed in Sicily. As a result, King Martin took over Palermo, the Chiaromontes were
                                                                                                                                          defeated, and Andrea was beheaded in front of the palace built by Manfredi. In the
                                                                                                                                          following years, the Steri was gradually transformed into an Aragonese palace, and
                                                                                                                                          became the official residence of the Viceroy, the Tribunal for Property Assets, the Tri-
                                                                                                                                          bunal of the Inquisition, the seat of the Bourbon judicial offices and then, of the House
                                                                                                                                          of Savoy, until it was acquired by the University of Palermo. The University took pos-
                                                                                                                                          session of the Steri in 1967, while restoration work was underway. The work continued
                                                                                                                                          for several years, and in 1984, even before the restoration and preparation of the Sala
                                                                                                                                          Magna were completed fourteen years later, it became the seat of the rectorate.
                                                                                                                                                Starting from its construction the Steri has undergone many alterations, which have
                                                                                                                                          disfigured several parts and compromised its complete restoration forever.
                                                                                                                                                After the events of 1392, with the death of Andrea Chiaromonte, maintenance work
                                                                                                                                          was carried out in different parts of the building, in particular, on the painted ceiling of
                                                                                                                                          the Sala Magna, testifying to the fact that the building was still highly considered as a
                                                                                                                                          monument worthy of being preserved for the future, regardless of the political events
                                                                                                                                          of the day. Numerous examples of conservative interventions on works of art of a similar
                                                                                                                                          nature to that of the Steri are preserved in Andalusian Spain and in Sicily, such as the
                                                                                                                                          muqarnas ceiling of the Palatine Chapel located within the architectural complex of the
                                                                                                                                          Royal Palace in Palermo, and the wooden trussed roofs of the Cathedrals of Cefalù,
                                                                                                                                          Monreale and Palermo.
                                                                                                                                                Such interest in keeping these painted ceilings in good condition, most of which were
                                                                                                                                          of Islamic tradition, leads us to think that there was a widespread awareness of their spec-
                                                                                                                                          ificity and, consequently, a desire to save these artifacts whose historical-artistic singular-
                                                                                                                                          ity was evidently perceived. Between the end of the fifteenth century and just after the mid
                                                                                                                                          sixteenth century, many other works were carried out, but the characteristics of the an-
                                                                                                                                          cient architecture of the building and its painted ceiling were no longer fully appreciated.


                                                                                                  326
     When, in 1601, the Steri became the seat of the Tribunal of the Inquisition and its
meetings were held in the Sala Magna, the encouragement to learn more about the
ceiling, through a new historical-artistic reading of the same, ceased, and a different cri-
terion for evaluating the significance of the Steri’s paintings was gradually established.
     This is because the Sicilian Inquisition favoured local aristocrats more than else-
where, as well as a type of historiography aimed at enhancing the role of the great
noble houses in controlling the circulation of ideas and in establishing an education
devoid of stimulating critical content; they were therefore interested in investigating the
degree of nobility and antiquity that existed, through research on archaeological and
aristocratic elements, to which the ceiling of the Steri lent itself very well.


   2.1. Historiographic excursus

     The above is evident in the work of Agostino Inveges [1] who, in 1651, re-explored
it as a simple repository for material memories, transcribed the inscriptions with errors
and arbitrary additions and, from the large number of coats of arms, obtained a heral-
dic map of Sicilian baronage. During the Enlightenment, unlike what happened in other
European countries, Sicilian culture made no progress compared to the previous cen-
tury, producing, as far as the Steri was concerned, mostly imprecise heraldic studies
for figures and documentary repertoires of the nobility of the island, despite the fact
that in Palermo, towards the middle of the eighteenth century, a certain artistic interest
in medieval monuments began to gain ground.
     In 1782, the Tribunal of the Inquisition abandoned the Steri, having been sup-
pressed by royal decree after the arrival of the reformist viceroy, Domenico Caracciolo,
in Sicily. This event, however, did not favour the artistic fortunes of the building and
helped neither the conservation nor the appreciation of the painted ceiling, which was
consequently left in a state of serious neglect. An attempt was made to hide the fact by
installing a clumsy false ceiling. From a political point of view, however, a series of




                                                                                                   CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
events culminated in the collapse of Bourbon power in 1860.
     The situation of the Steri did not change under Savoy rule with Sicily’s union to Ita-
ly. On the contrary, during the first decades it worsened, and it was not until 1898-99
that restoration of the ceiling was started. By that time, it appeared devastated, was
partly covered, and had been damaged by rain and bad intervention work.
     The restoration was a decisive moment in both the material recovery of the work and
its critical history, as it was the result of a reflection whose background was represented by
a strongly innovative European cultural thrust. The intervention was accompanied by stud-
ies and systematic research on the monument which intersected with those on the ceil-
ing of the Palatine Chapel, leading to the recognition of an Islamizing continuity in subse-
quent Sicilian art. This allowed the ceilings of the Steri to no longer be considered merely
archaeological artifacts to be used in the historic heraldry of the local baronage, but as
evidence of the history of art, as in the case of the Islamic ceilings of the Palatine Chapel.
     By highlighting the “applied” character and the “practical” nature of the Palermo
ceilings, these studies, which denoted a European opening of Sicilian culture towards
the Anglo-Saxon world in particular, made it possible to overcome the distinction be-
tween major and minor art and to affirm that fittings, such as painted ceilings, were as
valuable for art history as were works of a monumental nature.
     The pages published by Gioacchino Di Marzo [2-3], first in 1858 and then in 1899,
represented a step forward of great importance because, in addition to enhancing the
“charm” and “magnificence” of these special painted ceilings, he made a connection


                                                                                                 327
                                                                                                                                          between the ceiling of the Palatine Chapel and that of the Steri. This confirms that a
                                                                                                                                          taste for the Islamic prevails in both works, a taste that blends with Sicilian art for at
S. Lorusso, Franco Palla, M. C. Di Natale, G. Travagliato - The Steri, the historical site of Palermo University: past, present, future




                                                                                                                                          least the following two centuries. He also highlights the extraordinary variety of the
                                                                                                                                          ornamental designs, largely deriving from the inexhaustible fantasy of arabesques with
                                                                                                                                          human and animal figures, in which Islamic art shines.
                                                                                                                                              After examining the decorative elements, he moves on to the iconography of the
                                                                                                                                          “figurative subjects”, identifying several of them, at times accurately, at other times in-
                                                                                                                                          accurately, noting however that a systematic study of the complex would allow for a
                                                                                                                                          historical interpretation of the monument, also with regard to its relationship with soci-
                                                                                                                                          ety, of which it is an expression.
                                                                                                                                              Finally, Di Marzo deals with the “field of art” and points to the Sicilian origin of the
                                                                                                                                          painters whose signatures he had identified: “Mastru Simuni di Curiglu[ni]” and “Mastro
                                                                                                                                          Chicu di Naro”, and giving an entirely Sicilian interpretation of their pictorial language;
                                                                                                                                          an erroneous interpretation, even if it must be recognized that a writer of the late nine-
                                                                                                                                          teenth century could not possess the knowledge and criteria of judgment of the art
                                                                                                                                          historians of many years later.
                                                                                                                                              However, Di Marzo had affirmed three fundamental points which would then be
                                                                                                                                          confirmed by subsequent historiography: the ceiling of the Sala Magna in the Steri is a
                                                                                                                                          work of undisputed primary importance for the history of art; its Islamic origin is similar
                                                                                                                                          to that of the ceiling of the Palatine Chapel; it contains a very rich and extremely inter-
                                                                                                                                          esting figurative cycle, whose subjects, in addition to representing a vast repertoire of
                                                                                                                                          late medieval Sicilian fables, constitute one of the most relevant examples of late Eu-
                                                                                                                                          ropean medieval iconography.
                                                                                                                                              Subsequent studies added nothing new to knowledge of the work until the 1920s.
                                                                                                                                          It was Ettore Gabrici [4-7] and Ezio Levi [8-12] who later carried out interesting inves-
                                                                                                                                          tigations by first concentrating on the iconographic explanation of the pictorial cycles
                                                                                                                                          and then including documentary research. This made it possible to have a clearer
                                                                                                                                          picture of the facts related to the events of the Palazzo Chiaromonte. They discovered
                                                                                                                                          that the ceiling painters were not two, but three (the third being “Pellegrino Darena” or
                                                                                                                                          “de Arena”); and finally, having subjected the work to a systematic historical-artistic
                                                                                                                                          investigation, they found some new indications that correlated the tradition of the Is-
                                                                                                                                          lamic origin of Sicilian painted ceilings and the one that had developed on the Iberian
                                                                                                                                          Peninsula towards the end of the fourteenth century.
                                                                                                                                              Gabrici then carried out a careful analysis of the inscriptions, coats of arms and other
                                                                                                                                          decorative elements, believing that the most significant and original part of it was to be
                                                                                                                                          found in the decorations without figures. Furthermore, he identified the work of each of
                                                                                                                                          the three painters in the figurative cycles. However, his work did not give satisfactory
                                                                                                                                          results, even though, considering the methods and knowledge of the time, Gabrici had
                                                                                                                                          managed to summarily indicate the main decorative varieties employed in that context.
                                                                                                                                              The inclusion of the Palermo ceiling in a broader cultural horizon is mainly due to
                                                                                                                                          the intervention of Ezio Levi, who not only brought numerous clarifications to the expla-
                                                                                                                                          nation of the stories of each representative cycle, he also maintained that the vast
                                                                                                                                          overall design of the work was the result of an “organic mind” and that “a true medieval
                                                                                                                                          encyclopaedia was condensed in the paintings on the beams”, namely, “the profane
                                                                                                                                          iconography of the Middle Ages”.
                                                                                                                                              In successive years, no appreciable innovations were made in any studies con-
                                                                                                                                          cerning the historical-artistic and historical-cultural fields until the 1940 memoir by Vit-
                                                                                                                                          torio Lanza [13] on 12th-17th century Sicilian ceilings. Although it was the most organic
                                                                                                                                          investigation conducted up to that moment, on that specific kind of artefact in Sicily,
                                                                                                                                          it contained numerous generalities, several errors, many uncertainties in the histori-


                                                                                                  328
cal-artistic knowledge of the sectors examined and a radicalization of the continuity of
the Sicilian spirit, which in turn, was incorporated into the myth of popular art.
    It was not until Toesca [14], in 1950, that the ceiling paintings of the Steri were in-
cluded in the broader context of Italian art. They were defined as “the most singular
work of Sicilian painters”; characterized by “Islamic vestiges” and “Romanesque and
Gothic ornamentation” following a “Gothic-like style made up of flat outlines and co-
lours albeit derived through mediation from beyond the Alps”; they were similar to deco-
rated ceilings in Spain, with references made to the illuminated illustrations of the co-
dices that dealt with classical studies, chivalry, bestiaries and ornamentation.
    After these insights, no other important scientific contributions appeared apart from
that of 1956 by Gianfranco Folena [15], who defined the iconographic cycle of the
Chiaromonte ceiling as a figurative summa of all the romance literature of the Middle
Ages, until Toesca’s idea on the illustrated manuscripts was taken up again, a unique
work in Romance culture, and one of the most original in fourteenth century Italy. Pre-
paratory studies by Ettore Li Gotti [16] followed the same direction when he decided to
document the pictorial cycle from scratch by photographing the ceiling with a view to
systematically illustrating the paintings afresh. However, he died prematurely, and his
project was taken up by Professor Giuseppe Cusimano.
    Other studies of a historical-cultural nature also exist, such as the writing by Fran-
cesco Bruni [17] for whom the paintings on the ceiling of the Steri are an expression of
courtly secularism linked to the world of feudalism.


   2.2. The studies of Ferdinando Bologna

    Today, the volume dedicated to the ceiling of the Sala Magna at the Steri in Pal-
ermo by Ferdinando Bologna [18], is of great importance. It was published in 1975,
then re-edited in 2002 to celebrate the bicentenary of the establishment of the Uni-
versity of Palermo.




                                                                                                 CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
    After an accurate historiographical analysis, Bologna’s work proposes, through a
precise study program, to methodically and systematically address the Steri’s prob-
lems, which fundamentally relate to its historical-artistic aspects, its iconography and
iconological interpretation, and its historical, social and ideological roots; but not with-
out first dealing with the question of its traditionally Sicilian characteristics, in other
words, the tendency to want to see everything as being Sicilian without considering
any external elements, which frequently influenced them by mixing with local elements,
and conversely, the juxtaposed question of the cultural isolation Sicily experienced
during the fourteenth century and at other times in its history.
    With a very open mind, he proposed to examine the facts and to analyse the ceil-
ing, above all in consideration of the place it deserved in the history of the specific
genre, both in Palermo, as well as throughout the Mediterranean area. Neither did he
neglect the way in which the genre was suited to the type of decoration it was used for.
He then analysed the non-figurative decorative systems and their origin, while for the
figurative part, he specified its character and purpose, as well as the reason for its occa-
sional rough approach, also attempting to establish which parts belonged to which
master, each one successfully defining their figurative culture.
    Considering that Bologna’s volume represents the broadest and most complete
contribution to the knowledge of the Steri ceiling, the previously briefly mentioned sa-
lient points will be addressed in the following paragraphs along the lines of the study
plan he proposed.


                                                                                               329
                                                                                                                                             3. Historical-artistic aspects of the ceiling
S. Lorusso, Franco Palla, M. C. Di Natale, G. Travagliato - The Steri, the historical site of Palermo University: past, present, future




                                                                                                                                              The historical-artistic aspects include an examination of the ceiling’s structure and
                                                                                                                                          pictorial genre, an analysis of the non-figurative and figurative decorations, identification
                                                                                                                                          of the authors, and the distribution of the work with regard to the execution of the various
                                                                                                                                          parts and, finally, an examination of the historical, social and ideological context.


                                                                                                                                             3.1. The structure and painting genre

                                                                                                                                               Having accurately described the painted surface and the structural texture of the
                                                                                                                                          ceiling, Ferdinando Bologna then dwells on how the choice of the warp with partitions
                                                                                                                                          and sub-partitions, and the large number of beams and their accentuated proximity were
                                                                                                                                          chosen for a special reason, related not only to the matter of the ornamentation, but
                                                                                                                                          above all to that of the narrative-didactic aspect, which then unfolded figuratively on the
                                                                                                                                          surface of the beams and inside the compartments they delimited. In other words, since
                                                                                                                                          the project envisaged an extraordinary decorative and iconographic richness right from
                                                                                                                                          the start, this program conditioned the design of the structure to the point of requiring the
                                                                                                                                          preparation of sections of the surfaces in such a number as to contain the full develop-
                                                                                                                                          ment of the narrative. This is an extremely significant observation, since it can be de-
                                                                                                                                          duced that the Steri ceiling does not represent a simple renewal of traditions, it responds
                                                                                                                                          to a particular request and is therefore designed “ex novo”, and consequently leads to
                                                                                                                                          familiar structural elements being translated into aesthetically new ones.
                                                                                                                                               How the architect-carpenter of Manfredi III reached this result is widely investigated
                                                                                                                                          in the following pages.
                                                                                                                                               Notwithstanding a continued taste for the Islamic style in certain Sicilian works
                                                                                                                                          produced between the 12th and 14th centuries, including the ceiling of the Palatine
                                                                                                                                          Chapel in Palermo, Bologna argues that they cannot have been directly derived from
                                                                                                                                          the prototype dating back to more than two centuries earlier; firstly, because in the
                                                                                                                                          world of Islamic art, which was also very conservative, significant transformations took
                                                                                                                                          place at that time, and secondly, because the manifestation of the forms offers no pos-
                                                                                                                                          sibility of comparing the two ceilings, suggesting a more recent source for that of the
                                                                                                                                          Steri, which was differently localized, as well as being the expression of a more mod-
                                                                                                                                          ern experience. Indeed, the ceiling of the Steri appears to bear a closer resemblance
                                                                                                                                          to Spanish mudejar ceilings2, although the structure of the latter appear elementary
                                                                                                                                          compared with that of the Steri.
                                                                                                                                               A careful examination of the architectural sources, typical of the Mediterranean
                                                                                                                                          area between Sicily, Spain and northern Africa, led Bologna to affirm that the Islamic
                                                                                                                                          world of northern Africa had had knowledge of some of the elements characteristic of
                                                                                                                                          the Chiaromontane ceilings since the 11th century and that it was clearly in that area
                                                                                                                                          that the principal architectural source was to be found. Furthermore, the ceiling in Pal-
                                                                                                                                          ermo must certainly have been affected by the artistic events which characterized the
                                                                                                                                          Maghreb and the city of Granada between the end of the thirteenth century and the first
                                                                                                                                          half of the fourteenth century; events which eventually led to the construction of the
                                                                                                                                          famous Alhambra complex. The Alhambra immediately became a point of reference
                                                                                                                                          whose echo also reached Sicily and the court of Manfredi III Chiaromonte, as evi-
                                                                                                                                          denced by the textual checks Bologna carried out and the numerous formal and struc-
                                                                                                                                          tural comparisons, even though the expressive subtlety of the fourteenth century His-
                                                                                                                                          pano-Moorish sources is evidently superior when compared to the ceiling of the Steri.


                                                                                                  330
    One last interesting consideration that leads to highlighting how, in Sicily and in
Christian Spain, both Islamic style ceilings and more specifically mudejar ones are found
in sacred buildings, despite their decorations being of a profane nature. It was a trend
that was commonly used, which started with the Palatine Chapel in Palermo until the
fourteenth century and later, and stemmed from the particular secular tone of the Is-
lamic vision. Such contrast, between the place of use and the intent of the decorative
themes is completely missing in the ceiling of the Steri, where the architect uses an
Islamic ceiling to cover a profane environment in a noble residence. The result must
have appeared such an innovation that it soon became a model that conditioned not
only private works of the same type, but also religious buildings, in Sicily.


    3.2. The aniconic decoration, the coats of arms and the writings

    As already mentioned, the decoration is of an extraordinary richness, both in the
non-figurative sequences, characterized by vegetal and geometric themes, writings,
coats of arms, and in the figurative sequences, where, moreover, by combining such
diverse motifs, far from determining fragmented and contrasting results, they create an
impression of singular unity and homogeneity.
    If we then go on to investigate the various parts that make up the ornamental design,
individually, we notice that the figurative part, and the non-figurative part which, though
based on a great variety of expressions, are not of a very high quality, especially if ob-
served closely. It is therefore difficult to make an evaluation of the artistic quality of the two
parts, as if they were two separate antithetical entities. Indeed, that note of mediocrity that
is perceived is in reality a characteristic, “a deliberate summary of the execution” deter-
mined by practical factors that required the work to be done rapidly and with cursive and
ordinary connotations. Approximation, here, refers to the functional aspect of viewing from
afar, from the right distance, thus mitigating any aesthetic limits by favouring an overall
aesthetic vision. This justifies the “popular” interpretations given to the ceiling which,




                                                                                                       CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
however, arose from the academic prejudice that a ceiling painter could not be an artist.
    The repertoire of the afore-mentioned non-figurative or aniconic parts is vast: they
include intertwining plant themes and foliage that combine with others of a graphic de-
sign (Figure 2), coats of arms of noble families and reigning dynasties, cities, states,
popes and emperors – as Giovanni Travagliato has recently clarified [19] –, openwork
rosettes, intertwining arches, triangles and other geometric figures, rich swirls of acan-
thus leaves, abstract elements and so on, with the significant evidence of a strong,
though seemingly impossible relationship between the natural elements and abstract
elements that are found, moreover, in all mature Islamic art.
    A relationship which, however, weakens towards the final part of the ceiling, be-
cause the geometric character of the aniconic repertoire unexpectedly tends to prevail
over the naturalistic one.
    It is thus possible to identify two distinct aniconic experiences: the first character-
ized by a variety of directions, the second tending to be more homogeneous and ori-
ented toward increasingly greater abstract simplification.
    The next step is to define the cultural matrix of these two sectors.
    There is little mention of it in the criticism that precedes Bologna’s analysis. There
are those who, like Gabrici [4-7], initially refer to Spanish mudejar ceilings and then
underline their derivation from the mosaics of the ambos and floors of the Norman age
in Sicily and, there are those who, like Lanza [13], dispute the analogies with mudejar
art3 and confine their derivation to Sicily. Instead, according to Bologna [18], there is an


                                                                                                     331
S. Lorusso, Franco Palla, M. C. Di Natale, G. Travagliato - The Steri, the historical site of Palermo University: past, present, future




                                                                                                                                          Figure 2. The central band shows three star motifs composed of a pattern of braided ribbon alongside
                                                                                                                                          a splay of vine leaves; on the right, a vegetal decoration with the face of Christ [18].


                                                                                                                                          evident similarity between the decorations of the Steri and the Hispano-Moorish ones
                                                                                                                                          of the Spanish artesonados (ceilings), even if elements of other origin are involved
                                                                                                                                          and, in any case, the similarities between specific themes are never literal. Further-
                                                                                                                                          more, in the first sector, something of the art of the Norman age can be seen, whereas
                                                                                                                                          for the pictorial-miniature character of the Chiaramonte ceiling, there is the mediation
                                                                                                                                          of an illuminated codex, while other elements suggest a western culture of gothic ex-
                                                                                                                                          traction and some of the interweaving has appreciable similarities with the decoration
                                                                                                                                          of a group of Islamic vases in damascened bronze, of Syro-Mesopotamian or Iranian
                                                                                                                                          origin, dating back to the second half of the 13th century and early 14th century, now
                                                                                                                                          dispersed in various collections. The second group of decorations appears more ho-
                                                                                                                                          mogenous, and the Islamic element has a more direct role, which allows the prece-
                                                                                                                                          dents and the derivations to be precisely identified according to an underlying theme
                                                                                                                                          that progressively develops in the Persian world and moves towards more recent west-
                                                                                                                                          ern Islamic circles, such as the Maghreb. Neither can the analogies with the decora-
                                                                                                                                          tions of the palatine ceiling in Palermo be ignored; their aniconic themes also belong
                                                                                                                                          to the Islamic art of the East, even if the themes in the Steri presuppose a much more
                                                                                                                                          advanced artistic stage, a stage that cannot be conceived as a simple local develop-
                                                                                                                                          ment, but mediated by the development of the schools of Persia, North Africa, Andalu-
                                                                                                                                          sia, whose work the Steri masters must have had first-hand knowledge of.
                                                                                                                                              The coats of arms and inscriptions are part of the aniconic decoration which seven-
                                                                                                                                          teenth and eighteenth-century authors, above all, wrote about, and later, Gabrici [4-7], who
                                                                                                                                          only made an accurate list, and merely observed that until then no systematic heraldic
                                                                                                                                          study had yet been carried out. Even today there is still no such study, which seems
                                                                                                                                          strange given that these coats of arms express a precise desire for noble self-celebration.


                                                                                                       332
    An earlier example, dating back to around 1300, which may constitute a model
similar to the Chiaromontane one, was identified by Bologna. It is the Salle aux écus in
the castle of Ravel near Clermont-Ferrand, where a frieze of forty-nine coats of arms
of the most important families of France is painted. And yet, when one compares the
importance of the Sicilian lineage with that of the kingdom of France, a quite exception-
al fact is that the Palermo heraldic display brings together about eighty coats of arms
of far superior quality and of a significantly higher number than the French.
    As for the inscriptions, of which there are a considerable number, most are written
in Latin, but there are also several in the vernacular. In particular, those bearing the
signatures of the three painters are in the vernacular, and more precisely in Sicilian
vernacular: Mastru Simuni pinturi di Curiglu[ni], Mastru Chicu pinturi di Naro and Mas-
tru [P]illirinu Darenu pigituri de Palermu (Figures 3-4).




                                                                                              CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
                      Figure 3. Signature of Simone da Corleone [18].




                         Figure 4. Signature of Cecco di Naro [18].


                                                                                            333
                                                                                                                                              In the writings, the decorative purpose prevails over the expressive value of the
                                                                                                                                          words following an Arabizing influence that had arrived in the West, which is present,
S. Lorusso, Franco Palla, M. C. Di Natale, G. Travagliato - The Steri, the historical site of Palermo University: past, present, future




                                                                                                                                          above all, in the epigraphic decorations of North African and Andalusian monuments.
                                                                                                                                              Many of them appear in relation to profane scenes of a narrative nature and have
                                                                                                                                          an explanatory function, while others are of a sacred or moral nature and, for this rea-
                                                                                                                                          son, are isolated from the narrative context; others subvert the semantic-functional
                                                                                                                                          value of the alphabetic signs of the language to which they belonged, as if the Steri
                                                                                                                                          painters were looking for a different kind that was of an esoteric-kabalistic order, and
                                                                                                                                          thus addressed the semantic value of the letter with the presence of its image. Yet
                                                                                                                                          another sign of the adherence of the Steri painters to more recent Islamic art.
                                                                                                                                              Nevertheless, there are Western implications that denote increasing participation
                                                                                                                                          in the new profane climate that was establishing itself in European art which, nonethe-
                                                                                                                                          less, included an interest in oriental art.


                                                                                                                                              3.3. The figurative decoration

                                                                                                                                               Among the purely decorative elements is an equal abundance of figurative scenes,
                                                                                                                                          whose characteristics, from an historical-artistic point of view, are carefully examined
                                                                                                                                          by distinguishing the various stylistic units, matching them when possible, to the ani-
                                                                                                                                          conic decoration, and identifying their underlying figurative culture.
                                                                                                                                               Also in this case, previous critiques have left summary indications with few ideas
                                                                                                                                          and reliable contributions.
                                                                                                                                               According to Gabrici [4-7] the non-figurative and figurative decorations were inde-
                                                                                                                                          pendent of each other. He indicated the first style, by the hand of Cecco da Naro, for
                                                                                                                                          most of the scenes on beam XI; a second hand, which was that of Dareno da Paler-
                                                                                                                                          mo, for the remainder; and a third hand, of greater artistic value, which was that of
                                                                                                                                          Simone da Corleone, because of the space separating the first signature and isolating
                                                                                                                                          it from the other two.
                                                                                                                                               Levi, likewise, indicates [8-12], for all figurative parts of the ceiling, a strong link with
                                                                                                                                          the mudejar style of the Spanish artesonados. After these observations, no further stud-
                                                                                                                                          ies were made regarding the difference between the Masters involved or the cultural
                                                                                                                                          characterization of the paintings, with the exception of those by Toesca [14], who was the
                                                                                                                                          only one to reaffirm the correct part of the Hispano-Moorish theses supported by the two
                                                                                                                                          authors who had preceded him; to define the “Gothic-like style made up of flat outlines
                                                                                                                                          and colours albeit derived through mediation from beyond the Alps”; to reaffirm the affin-
                                                                                                                                          ities with the decorated ceilings of Spain; to find a link with the paintings in the Patio of
                                                                                                                                          the Lions at the Alhambra, to be the first to highlight the miniaturist nature of the Chiaro-
                                                                                                                                          montane paintings and, finally, to indicate the ideas that were to be further explored.
                                                                                                                                               Bologna [18] did precisely this when he examined the paintings once more. First
                                                                                                                                          of all, he affirms that there are more than three homogeneous nuclei that can be clear-
                                                                                                                                          ly identified and, that the presence of the three signatures must not condition any
                                                                                                                                          judgment, as they most likely indicate groups of workers who belonged to one of the
                                                                                                                                          three masters. Secondly, he observes that in one of the sectors, there is a clearly
                                                                                                                                          distinct part that appears extraneous to all the rest, also for technical reasons, which
                                                                                                                                          is probably the result of restoration work dating to a later period, perhaps the interven-
                                                                                                                                          tion documented in 1438.
                                                                                                                                               Given these premises, Bologna goes on to examine the various sectors, gradually
                                                                                                                                          identifying the different hands that worked on the painting. He accompanies each one


                                                                                                    334
with a story, and dwells in particular on the group of painters led by the so-called Mas-
ter of the “Judgment of Solomon”, who executed the figurative paintings which, using
almost the same internal partitions, cover the first sector identified in the aniconic dec-
oration with a very distinct stylistic direction and reflects the style of the Spanish artes-
onados. In this respect, the most meaningful reference for the Chiaromontane paint-
ings is to the ceiling of the parish church in Vileña near Burgos, most probably painted
shortly after the mid-fourteenth century by painters whose culture presents a marked
Moorish component, especially in the decorative plant motifs.
    The miniature elements have already been mentioned. Bologna deems it possible
that the Master painter of the Solomon story knew of some Castilian illuminated codex
on biblical or chivalric subjects dating back to the same figurative culture as the artes-
onado of Vileña. Similar cases could be the miniatures of the Spanish version of the
Roman de Troie at the Escorial and the fourteenth-century miniatures of the Bolognese
school, whose influence was endorsed by the constant relations involving university
studies between Sicilian law scholars and Bologna. Nor can connections with Neapol-
itan miniatures be excluded. This hypothesis is confirmed by the fact that the Master
painter’s first interventions are flanked by parts executed by other painters who, while
moving within the sphere of the culture of Vileña, share direct affinities with both Emil-
ian and Neapolitan art.
    The first of these painters demonstrates remarkable artistic quality and, in fact,
there are artists who copied his work. His painting makes us better appreciate his tal-
ent, which appears to be of a higher calibre than that of the Master painter of Solomon
himself, with characteristics resembling those in Bolognese culture.
    The second painter identifies with the author of other stories closer to the Neapoli-
tan manner. An overall examination of all the formal, typological and cultural aspects
observed so far, in the parts executed by the various masters, refer very precisely to
models found in the pages of a notebook kept in the Morgan Library in New York, due
to their grotesque and biting spirit, and the proposed topics in which curiosities prevail.




                                                                                                  CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
Then there is the Master of the acanthus swirls, already indicated by Gabrici [4-7] in
the “Giotto tradition”, whose physiognomy is undoubtedly Neapolitan, but looks to the
branch of the Neapolitan miniature of Giotto inspiration.
    A new direction is taken on the beams from XI to XXIV: a direction which corre-
sponds to that highlighted in the non-figurative decorations of beams VI, VII, VIII. As for
the latter, here too, the geometric motifs are accentuated, even if the presence of two
different artists should be noted, they express architectural and landscape elements of
a fairy-tale and almost lyrical tone for the most vibrant moments; another accentuates
the elements bearing coats of arms, creating an even more fabulous overhead sus-
pension, which spreads a light over the decorations giving it a glazed effect, whose
general tone, even if the quality is not always excellent, is nonetheless high.
    Its cultural provenance, however, is different from that of the other Masters, moving
towards Andalusia and the northern coast of Maghreb Africa. In addition to this, it
should be noted that the part attributable to this second Master shows evident links
with a group of fourteenth century illuminated manuscripts from England, especially as
regards the monstrous figures and the fighting between animals, even if, obviously, the
Steri Master translates everything into his own Andalusian language using solid co-
lours and no shadows. In conclusion, a further consideration concerns the influence
exerted by the Steri’s paintings and its range of propagation which, if it was not what
one might have expected, it, nonetheless, had numerous reflections as the prototype
of a specific tradition which lasted until the middle of the 15th century, with notable in-


                                                                                                335
                                                                                                                                          fluences even in the sumptuary4 and domestic arts, as demonstrated by some well-
                                                                                                                                          known quilted bed covers.
S. Lorusso, Franco Palla, M. C. Di Natale, G. Travagliato - The Steri, the historical site of Palermo University: past, present, future




                                                                                                                                              All this also demonstrates that the pictorial cycles of the Chiaromonte ceiling have
                                                                                                                                          nothing that can be described as popular, nor do they bear any similarity to Sicilian folk
                                                                                                                                          art, owing to the extreme complexity of the culture of reference that emerged, and the
                                                                                                                                          capacity it had for its diffusion.
                                                                                                                                              Of course, the general tone of the representations suggests a somewhat dialectical
                                                                                                                                          version of the “illustrious” language, but there is a distinction between a dialect that
                                                                                                                                          reflects only a popular experience, and a dialect which instead, is based on refined
                                                                                                                                          material, as happens in the case of the Steri.


                                                                                                                                             3.4. Identification of the authors and distribution of the work

                                                                                                                                               Focusing on the issue of the authors’ identity, the problem of the three signatures
                                                                                                                                          has yet to be clarified, but they seem to point to just three painters who produced the
                                                                                                                                          varied and enormous quantity of ceiling paintings. Starting from a topographical-palae-
                                                                                                                                          ographic premise, Bologna hazards a guess, despite acknowledging the enormous
                                                                                                                                          difficulty of the question. His hypothesis essentially refers to two points: the first con-
                                                                                                                                          cerns the fact that the signatures of the three painters appear in unusual places, nei-
                                                                                                                                          ther at the beginning nor at the end of the pictorial cycle, but in the middle and, while
                                                                                                                                          the signature of Simone da Corleone stands alone, the other two – Cecco di Naro and
                                                                                                                                          Pellegrino from Palermo – are next to each other; the second, however, refers, to the
                                                                                                                                          fact that different gothic fonts are used.
                                                                                                                                               Starting from these observations, Bologna [18] first assumes that, since all three
                                                                                                                                          signatures appear after beam V, which is where the first sector ends, one could think
                                                                                                                                          that the work of the three painters was limited to the second sector. Besides, since
                                                                                                                                          Simone’s signature is separate from the other two, his activity must have been limited
                                                                                                                                          to the area characterized by the frieze of interwoven star-shaped ribbons, which bears
                                                                                                                                          drawing features resembling those in the signature and, therefore, to the decorative
                                                                                                                                          elements connected to such friezes. Furthermore, Bologna believed that the creator of
                                                                                                                                          the entire decorative system was also the one who determined the character of the
                                                                                                                                          entire ceiling by creating the decorative frame which also includes the first sector, and
                                                                                                                                          by composing the module which was then continued beyond the XVIII beam up to the
                                                                                                                                          end, hypothesizing that this artist was responsible for the entire decorative-pictorial
                                                                                                                                          design as well as the project on which the architectural texture of the ceiling was
                                                                                                                                          based. This might be confirmed by the detached position of the signature placed pre-
                                                                                                                                          cisely at the point where the ornamentation, to which the ceiling owes its character, is
                                                                                                                                          most ostentatiously defined.
                                                                                                                                               This hypothesis consequently implies that the other two painters had a subordinate
                                                                                                                                          role. Of the two, the more inspired seems to be Cecco di Naro, while it is difficult to ex-
                                                                                                                                          press plausible opinions on the role of Pellegrino da Palermo. One could at best hypoth-
                                                                                                                                          esize he was a figure painter and perhaps seek his work in the second sector, but no
                                                                                                                                          more than this. If these suppositions were valid, it would consequently follow that the
                                                                                                                                          groups identified in the first sector would be extraneous to the three painters: the Master
                                                                                                                                          of the Solomon cycle and his assistants, the Master of the Aristotle story and the archi-
                                                                                                                                          tectural rosettes, the Master of the courteous couples, the Master of the acanthus swirls.
                                                                                                                                          Hence, it is evident there is a divergence between a more ancient culture and a more
                                                                                                                                          modern one, exactly as was found when examining the different parts.


                                                                                                    336
   4. Iconography: preliminary observations

     Before discussing the matter of iconography and its decoding, some observations
are necessary. One observation was made previously, when Levi [8-12] and Di Marzo
[2-3] were mentioned, regarding the fact that the ceiling of the Steri represents a sort
of medieval encyclopaedia. Another, again by Di Marzo, refers to the belief that it must
have been “an organic mind” which conceived the design, and another which decided
to transfer a material usually used in wall paintings to the beams of a ceiling.
     On this last point, however, whereas Levi believes that the creators of the cycle did
not realize that by transferring a material used for wall paintings, which have a much
larger surface, to a forcibly reduced surface, it would have made their reading difficult,
Bologna [18] opines that ease of reading was never a requirement that was deeply felt
by medieval artists, despite the belief that paintings should have moral and didactic
purposes. If this were not the case, it would be difficult to understand why the upper
parts of frescoes or mosaic cycles of the period are not that easy to discern, and even
more challenging to read.


   4.1. Identification of the depicted subjects

    To get to the heart of the matter, it must be said that scholars had already started
doing research to interpret the iconography, but greater insight is obtained with Bolo-
gna’s analysis by eliminating two of the methodological criteria which had limited it
until then.
    Levi proceeds by classifying the various themes by subject – hunting and love
scenes, legendary traditions, the legends of Tristan and, of Troy, biblical legends and so
on – without considering the position the various cycles occupy on the ceiling beams and
regardless of whether a certain theme is present elsewhere before or after 1377-1380.




                                                                                                   CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
    This way of proceeding, which flattens the perspective, is overcome by Bologna by
relocating the sequences in their place and respecting the typology of the story, and
the various themes, places and times of iconographic tradition.
    Thus, the cycle is read normally, from left to right, from sector A to sector B with one’s
back facing the first inscription of 1377, in which the scenes are on the band of the
beams facing the floor, and on the band facing the same inscription. The criterion is re-
versed when the scenes are on the opposite lateral band, i.e., facing the writing of 1380.
    Continuing his analysis, Bologna notes that the iconography of certain scenes is re-
interpreted respecting tradition, even if, on closer inspection, earlier examples do exist.
A good case in point is the story of the Judgment of Solomon (Figure 5) which had such an
extraordinary literary and iconographic diffusion that it was illustrated in several ancient
works and used in Persian, Arab and Turkish texts and medallions-amulets dating back
to the 4th-5th century A.D. where Solomon is depicted as a knight slaying a she-devil.
    An allusion to this tradition and in particular a link with the iconography of the me-
dallions can be found in the confrontation between the knight, Solomon, and a demon-
ic entity depicted in the ceiling of the Steri, hypothesizing the possibility that variants of
the biblical story followed the direction of the Jewish diaspora, but without ruling out an
Arab-Islamic direction, which, however, represented an important link for Sicilian Jews.
    What is unusual is the fact that the narration of the Judgment is done in such an
analytical way – sometimes including solutions to different themes – as to have no
comparison in traditional iconography.


                                                                                                 337
                                                                                                                                                                                                      As for the legend of Tristan
                                                                                                                                                                                                  and Isolde, from an iconographic
S. Lorusso, Franco Palla, M. C. Di Natale, G. Travagliato - The Steri, the historical site of Palermo University: past, present, future




                                                                                                                                                                                                  point of view, it is difficult to make
                                                                                                                                                                                                  any comparison due to the scarce
                                                                                                                                                                                                  European iconography of the sto-
                                                                                                                                                                                                  ry. The few matches made with
                                                                                                                                                                                                  some French ivories, describe dif-
                                                                                                                                                                                                  ferent moments of the legend re-
                                                                                                                                                                                                  curring in other parts of the ceil-
                                                                                                                                                                                                  ing. A new element stands out,
                                                                                                                                                                                                  however, in the narration, one in
                                                                                                                                                                                                  which the female is the dominant
                                                                                                                                                                                                  figure compared to the chivalrous
                                                                                                                                                                                                  hero. It is an element that reap-
                                                                                                                                                                                                  pears in other stories, such as, for
                                                                                                                                                                                                  example, that of Susanna (Figure 6),
                                                                                                                                                                                                  often mentioned in the medieval
                                                                                                                                                                                                  debate on the moral value of wom-
                                                                                                                                                                                                  en. Finding this element in the
                                                                                                                                                                                                  context we are dealing with is a
                                                                                                                                                                                                  significant issue, as it reinforces
                                                                                                                                                                                                  the myth of female reserve which,
                                                                                                                                                                                                  although undermined and slan-
                                                                                                                                                                                                  dered by those who are rejected,
                                                                                                                                                                                                  ultimately triumphs with public ac-
                                                                                                                                                                                                  knowledgement of the woman’s
                                                                                                                                          Figure 5. Master of the Judgment of Solomon. Story of   preserved chastity and punishment
                                                                                                                                          the Judgment of Solomon: the two mothers in bed [18].   for the slanderer.




                                                                                                                                          Figure 6. Master of the Judgment of Solomon. Story of Susanna: Susanna in the bathroom spied
                                                                                                                                          on by the old men [18].


                                                                                                    338
    As regards the specific iconographic design of the final scene in Susanna’s story, it
is worth noting there is a lack of evidence in the biblical text, whereas it can be found
in a Tuscan-Venetian version of the story dating back to the 14th century, and in 15th
century miniatures and French ivories, which in turn, links them to a theatrical repre-
sentation of 1477.
    Even if it is not known whether the painter of the Steri was familiar with this version,
Bologna nonetheless identifies another that goes back as far as the 9th century, from
which it can be deduced that this version, to which a precise iconographic tradition was
linked, must have been known for several hundred years in Europe.
    As to how it arrived in Sicily, Bologna suggests two possible routes: the western
one, which was the same source from which the Gothic world drew, or the eastern one
of Syro-Palestinian origin, which used the same Jewish or Islamic route hypothesized
for the legend of Solomon.
    In the following scenes the theme of paying homage to women continues to be a
sort of narrative thread, as in the story of Judith and Helen of Narbonne, until it returns
and presents itself with the typical features of medieval misogyny, as in the unusual
and grotesque scene of Aristotle letting himself be ridden by a courtesan (Figure 7).




                                                                                                 CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE




               Figure 7. Master of Aristotle. Aristotle ridden by a courtesan [18].


    The scene of the “Fountain of Youth” also deserves a mention, and is nothing but
the figurative projection of the inextinguishable desire for preservation and rebirth in
the vigour of life and amorous pastimes, the primary condition of the relationship be-
tween man and woman (Figure 8). The oldest memory we have of this scene is that of
the Castle of Valenciennes, which dates back to 1375.
    Overall, however, it must be said that the iconographic content follows autonomous
versions with respect to corresponding ones elsewhere. There are also many minor
scenes, which often refer to the theme of the juxtaposition of men and women, and hunt-
ing and cavalry scenes. One such scene represents a knight of the Chiaromontanes,


                                                                                               339
                                                                                                                                          indicated by the saddle cloth of the horse, who unseats an opponent, forcing him to
                                                                                                                                          surrender: an example of tribute to the noble life and pride for the caste, confirmed by
S. Lorusso, Franco Palla, M. C. Di Natale, G. Travagliato - The Steri, the historical site of Palermo University: past, present, future




                                                                                                                                          the series of coats of arms of the most noble Sicilian families which, together with the
                                                                                                                                          royal coats of arms of Aragon and Sicily, flank all the representations.
                                                                                                                                              Levi, on the other hand, made a notable contribution by identifying the cycle of the
                                                                                                                                          stories of Troy [8-12], and also established that they illustrate some chapters from the
                                                                                                                                          “Historia destructionis Troiae” by Guido delle Colonne, a judge from Messina who wrote
                                                                                                                                          the Latin text between 1270 and 1287.




                                                                                                                                                  Figure 8. Master of Aristotle ridden by a courtesan. The fountain of youth [18].


                                                                                                                                              This cycle is not depicted in a continuous manner on the various side faces of the
                                                                                                                                          beams, but is divided into various well-defined episodes, most of which are accompa-
                                                                                                                                          nied by explanatory writings. Once the first nucleus of scenes is concluded, a marked
                                                                                                                                          interruption appears followed by scenes that alternate with large aniconic bands. The
                                                                                                                                          cycle concludes with scenes of the Judgment of Paris and the Sacrifice of Iphigenia.
                                                                                                                                          They include a sequence, however, neglected by Levi, which, due to the disfigurement
                                                                                                                                          caused by bad conservation conditions, was almost illegible. It narrates the story of the
                                                                                                                                          preparation for the sacrifice of Iphigenia and three other sequences he strangely con-
                                                                                                                                          sidered to be separate, which depict episodes relating to the abduction of Helen, the
                                                                                                                                          landing of Helen on the Trojan beach with her solemn entry into the city and, finally, the
                                                                                                                                          wedding between Helen and Paris.
                                                                                                                                              Bologna supports these matching elements, not only on the basis of logical, topo-
                                                                                                                                          graphical and figurative evidence, but also on the basis of the fact that in two Venetian
                                                                                                                                          illuminated manuscripts of the fourteenth century, identified by Buchtal [20] in Madrid
                                                                                                                                          and Geneva, which contain the text and illustrations of the “Historia” by Guido delle
                                                                                                                                          Colonne, exactly the same scenes appear.
                                                                                                                                              This shows that the story is divided into three sections which are arranged in such
                                                                                                                                          a way as to make them appear separate from each other. However, the real theme is


                                                                                            340
not the destruction of Troy, but three parts of it, as indeed in the other stories of Solo-
mon, Judith, Susanna, Helen of Narbonne, etc. And all the examples are centred on
female figures relating to misogynistic or philogynous allusions, in a more or less de-
clared way: female figures such as Isolde, Medea, Hesione, Helen, Iphigenia, each of
which is linked to a precise moral judgment.
     Thus, a series of opposing examples is created which, from an iconographic-icono-
logical point of view, represents a crucial moment to try to understand the meaning of
the parts of the ceiling in which they appear.
     Not only that, the different moments in the Trojan cycle represent an important
reference point, also in verifying the degree of autonomy the designer of the cycle had,
with respect to iconographic tradition.
     Thanks to Buchtal’s systematic studies on the two aforementioned Venetian man-
uscripts from Madrid and Geneva, it can be stated that in Europe in the late Middle
Ages – over a period of one century, from the mid-13th to the mid-14th century, in a
geographical area that goes from Paris to Venice and from Castile to Naples – an
iconographic continuity of the “Trojan” subject is manifested in numerous examples
which are connected to each other.
     But perhaps the iconography of the Steri’s Trojan cycles has no point of contact with
the line of development indicated above and its matrix is very different. Which matrix is
it? It could be hypothesized that between 1287, the year in which Guido delle Colonne
completed the “Historia”, and 1377, the year in which the painting of the Palermo ceiling
began, a codex of the same “Historia” had appeared somewhere, illustrated according to
principles that were different from those of the two Venetian codes, and from which the
iconographer of the Steri may have drawn, though using it with great freedom.
     Among the identified scenes are those of the story of David and Goliath, the legend
of Saint George who kills the dragon and saves the princess, of Bathsheba, David and
Uriah, all stories in which the theme of women is central.
     There are also numerous scenes that are difficult to identify, with subjects taken
from the classical world which have been handed down through medieval short story




                                                                                                CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
literature in the romantic manner, peculiar to that period.
     It is interesting to note how, in some of these scenes, the story once again revolves
around a woman and the consequences of her love affairs. From this, it is clear that the
iconographer is continuing his discourse on the moral value of the woman, which is the
dominant motif and is rendered, moreover, with a truly remarkable variety of allusions.
     Bologna then makes a separate statement regarding several scenes from the cycle
concerning the story of the death of Dido, the story of King Evil-Merodach, the scenes
for the Grant Mersi, and the sequence derived from the Apocalypse. They are stories
whose iconography is known, owing to the descriptive features and probable sources,
while, from the point of view of interpretation, the usual pro-misogynistic theme prevails,
and where, in the last part of the ceiling, examples favouring women stand out.
     To sum up, it can be said that:
   1. The cycles of the Steri, in which traditions and thematic innovations converge,
      reveal a remarkable timeliness in the information when one considers the trans-
      formations that took place in Gothic Europe during the fourteenth century.
   2. It emerges that the iconographer had considerable freedom of expression, in
       the short story narratives, in the Trojan cycle and in the biblical sequences.
   3. This freedom is supported by a series of important changes, concerning both the
      content in the texts and current iconographic versions, in order to be able to adapt
      the story to a different context from the one for which it was originally intended.


                                                                                              341
                                                                                                                                                   And this is the focal point of the matter: the figural representation of the various
                                                                                                                                                   historical, biblical and fictional topics, and their very choice, were made to be
S. Lorusso, Franco Palla, M. C. Di Natale, G. Travagliato - The Steri, the historical site of Palermo University: past, present, future




                                                                                                                                                   understood from a precise didactic-illustrative perspective rather than from a
                                                                                                                                                   historical-narrative one, a method which has also penetrated the visual arts.
                                                                                                                                               4. The debate on the moral value of woman appears central in the Chiaromonte
                                                                                                                                                   cycle together with the contrast between the praises and the slanders she re-
                                                                                                                                                   ceives, but it is, nevertheless, mainly defamatory.
                                                                                                                                                   Traces of the origins of the theme of women can be found in echoes of remote
                                                                                                                                                   eastern, biblical and classical provenance, in the concept of Christianity and in
                                                                                                                                                   the atavistic and firm conviction of male superiority.
                                                                                                                                                   It is a theme that continues to be debated in various forms as time progresses. An
                                                                                                                                                   interesting parallel is the way in which the theme is treated in the Steri ceiling and
                                                                                                                                                   in “Contrasto delle donne”, written by the Florentine, Antonio Pucci, before 1375-
                                                                                                                                                   77, a circumstance which, given the substantial similarities, could lead us to hy-
                                                                                                                                                   pothesize that the iconographer from Palermo was familiar with the text.
                                                                                                                                               5. The significant convergence between the method and conclusions in Pucci’s
                                                                                                                                                   “Contrasto” and the designs in the ceiling of Palazzo Chiaromonte ends when
                                                                                                                                                   considering the different paths they then take. In fact, while the “Contrasto”
                                                                                                                                                   proposes several “exempla” and then discusses them by linking arguments for
                                                                                                                                                   and against to each one, in the Steri ceiling the criterion of counterposing a
                                                                                                                                                   negative example to the positive one is used. In this, the ceiling appears closer
                                                                                                                                                   to another type of literary composition, represented by the Piedmontese novel
                                                                                                                                                   “Le chevalier errant”, also from the fourteenth century.
                                                                                                                                               6. Again on the theme of women, the conclusion on the ceiling appears to be dif-
                                                                                                                                                   ferent compared to the previous ones, in that, in the case of the Steri the debate
                                                                                                                                                   ends, without any compromise, with the apocalyptic vision that reiterates the final
                                                                                                                                                   victory in the philogynous arguments.
                                                                                                                                               At this point of the investigation, one inevitably wonders who the organiser was, the
                                                                                                                                          iconographer, the organic mind that conceived the ceiling and what was the occasion that
                                                                                                                                          led Manfredi Chiaromonte to have such a ceiling painted. The answer to the first question
                                                                                                                                          may be found at the court of Manfredi III, where in the years in which the work was carried
                                                                                                                                          out, it was well-known that the figure of the physician, Perino da Corleone, held a position
                                                                                                                                          of great importance, as he was an expert in various fields of knowledge and linked to the
                                                                                                                                          Da Cremona family, which counted among its members men of great cultural standing.
                                                                                                                                          Perino’s prominent position and the historical fact that one of the ceiling painters also
                                                                                                                                          came from Corleone, leads us to identify him as the person who planned the iconography
                                                                                                                                          of the ceiling, a hypothesis recently confirmed by Evelina De Castro [21].
                                                                                                                                               As for the second question, it is necessary to evaluate an aspect that will give a
                                                                                                                                          more than plausible answer to the circumstance in question. In the ceiling, from the
                                                                                                                                          first lacunar, the coat of arms of the Ventimiglias is opposite that of the Chiaromontes
                                                                                                                                          (Figure 9), a combination which recurs insistently. It is justified by the fact that Eufemia
                                                                                                                                          Ventimiglia was Manfredi’s second wife, and they were most probably married in 1377.
                                                                                                                                          Besides, in the same year, it seems that after the death of Frederick III the Simple,
                                                                                                                                          Sicily was divided into four vicariates, one of which fell to the Chiaromontes and one to
                                                                                                                                          the Ventimiglias. It is therefore possible that the marriage between Manfredi and Eu-
                                                                                                                                          femia Ventimiglia was part of Manfredi’s desire to extend his power, which also justi-
                                                                                                                                          fies, among other things, the pre-eminent role of the didactic-moralizing theme of wom-
                                                                                                                                          en in the iconography of the painted ceiling, due to the need to remind his new wife of
                                                                                                                                          the risks and duties associated with her chosen condition.


                                                                                                 342
Figure 9. Master of Aristotle ridden by a courtesan and others. The Chiaromonte and Ventimiglia
coats of arms and vegetal friezes [18].



   4.2. Iconological interpretation

    The symbolic and allegorical meanings of the subjects depicted have already
been mentioned in the previous paragraphs, and yet it is worth dwelling further on
what appears to be the central theme of the pictorial cycle in question: the moral value
of women.
    Numerous examples of the theme appear: among them, a girl with a flower in her




                                                                                                    CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
hand and the homo selvaticus, depicted facing each other; another portrays a girl with
a flower similar to the previous one and two lovers embracing; they refer, on the one
hand, to the contrast between feminine gentleness and wild masculinity, and on the
other, virginal modesty and the passion of the senses on the other. In another, on one
side, appear three young girls in the act of playing various stringed instruments against
a backdrop of flowering trees and, on the other, are three fighting Crusaders with drawn
swords who have just finished killing the infidels at their feet: an example which shows
an interesting relationship between the three warriors and the three maidens, recalling
what Monteverdi would call “the songs of warriors and lovers”.
    Another case in which the female role is highlighted is represented in the Judgment
of Solomon, where the painter, instead of emphasizing the role of Solomon, highlights
the role of the two mothers and their contrasting behaviour by rewarding the innocent
and punishing the deceiver.
    Even in the stories of Tristan and Isolde, it is the latter who prevails, just as in the
story of Susanna, in which importance is given to the ethical myth of female reserve
and the value of women, or in the story of Judith, where homage paid to a woman
contrasts with the representation of amorous pastimes (Figure 10), or in another, the
story of Helen of Narbonne, where, however, the figure of the treacherous chambermaid
emerges as the one who causes Elena’s ruin. In fact, the female theme is not always
treated in a positive way, and often characteristics featuring misogyny and anti-feminism
prevail in the representation.


                                                                                                  343
S. Lorusso, Franco Palla, M. C. Di Natale, G. Travagliato - The Steri, the historical site of Palermo University: past, present, future




                                                                                                                                          Figure 10. Master of the Judgment of Solomon. Story of Judith: Judith dines with Holofernes and
                                                                                                                                          then kills him in his sleep [18].


                                                                                                                                              Even in the minor scenes there is no shortage of ideas that refer to the initial
                                                                                                                                          theme of the contrast between man and woman. Incredibly, this opposition even ex-
                                                                                                                                          tends to the animal level, as in the case of two leonine griffins chasing each other,
                                                                                                                                          which clearly appear as male and female; or the case of two bears seen from behind,
                                                                                                                                          which appear, from their attitude, to be two bears in love, and are clearly identified
                                                                                                                                          and diversified in sex by the respective words Ursus and Ursa. The erotic counter-
                                                                                                                                          point and the theme of women recur countless other times also in the stories of Troy,
                                                                                                                                          always with declared misogynistic or philogynous allusions. Thus, in the stories of
                                                                                                                                          Medea and Jason, Hesione, Helen, and Iphigenia, not only scenes of offenses, acts
                                                                                                                                          of revenge, seduction, sensuality, and dalliances, alternate with each other, virginity,
                                                                                                                                          innocence, and sacrifice appear too, each time symbolised in a female figure who
                                                                                                                                          embodies either good or evil.
                                                                                                                                              Here, the famous legend of the unicorn deserves a mention, since it is connected
                                                                                                                                          to the medieval symbology of female virginity and at the Steri appears in three different
                                                                                                                                          sequences. The most interesting depicts a girl who, with her right hand, raises a mirror
                                                                                                                                          in the shape of a monstrance, which probably symbolises the relationship between the
                                                                                                                                          animal’s purity and the woman’s virginity and, with her left hand, grabs the long horn of
                                                                                                                                          the animal which, as it turns towards the mirror, is mortally wounded by a warrior’s
                                                                                                                                          sword (Figure 11).
                                                                                                                                              Even the biblical story of David and Goliath is a story about women, where, in the
                                                                                                                                          scene in which David advances with his sword and the severed head of Goliath, a girl
                                                                                                                                          comes forward with a crown in her hand, probably representing King Saul’s daughter,
                                                                                                                                          who he promises to David in marriage. The same purpose can be attributed to the
                                                                                                                                          scene that depicts the legend of St. George and the dragon with the exemplum of the
                                                                                                                                          princess rescued from the jaws of the dragon and also to the scene that illustrates
                                                                                                                                          the story of Bathsheba, David and Uriah, which condemns lust and David’s adulter-


                                                                                              344
                                                                                                      CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
Figure 11. Second master of the second sector. Above: frieze of warriors and foliage. The capture
of the unicorn. Below: detail of the capture of the unicorn [18].


ous and overbearing love for Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, whom David sends to war,
as well as to his death.
    Even in the scenes that are not easy to decipher, young girls are always the
prominent subject. Hence, it clearly emerges that the dominant motif is always a
female one, expressed, moreover, with a truly remarkable variety of allusions and
detailed thematic research. The whole expressive range of profane ‘courtliness’ is
in fact there, to underline the guiding motif, interweaving the characteristic themes
of female life with those connected to male life, such as hunting and the training of
falcons, which then becomes a symbol of the plots devised by women to ensnare
and subdue men.
    Instead, in the last section of the ceiling depicting the story of Dido and the Apoca-
lypse, there are more scenes which present a favourable view of women. In particular,
the scenes in the Apocalypse start with the symbol of the woman-Madonna, against
which the forces of evil can do nothing; they then move on to the contrast between
Babylon, the great “harlot”, and the celestial Jerusalem in which everything is pure,
thus affirming the final victory of the philogynous arguments with the exemplum of the
Madonna, a position that has never been questioned.


                                                                                                    345
                                                                                                                                             5. The historical, social and ideological context
S. Lorusso, Franco Palla, M. C. Di Natale, G. Travagliato - The Steri, the historical site of Palermo University: past, present, future




                                                                                                                                              The true historical and social roots of the Chiaromonte ceiling are to be found, un-
                                                                                                                                          equivocally, in the feudal world. According to Di Marzo [2-3], the link with feudalism is
                                                                                                                                          expressed not so much by the mythical, historical, heroic, and religious representa-
                                                                                                                                          tions, as by the various facts, anecdotes, customs and curiosities that give a very
                                                                                                                                          precise historical framework to which the ceiling is related.
                                                                                                                                              This framework begins to take shape when, in 1363, a document was signed, with
                                                                                                                                          which the Sicilian barons, concluding the feudal disputes that had tormented the island
                                                                                                                                          for years, wrested from Frederick III the Simple the approval of a previous agreement,
                                                                                                                                          which stipulated that Sicily was to be divided into areas where the most important
                                                                                                                                          baronial families had more influence.
                                                                                                                                              Given that Frederick III’s (also known as Frederick the Simple) heir, Maria of Ara-
                                                                                                                                          gon was underage, the appointment of the four Vicars after his death, institutionalized
                                                                                                                                          the undisputed domination of the island, which, in fact, had already been established
                                                                                                                                          with feudalism.
                                                                                                                                              However, while Sicilian baronage maintained its role in part, it suffered a serious
                                                                                                                                          blow with the armed return, of the Aragonese in the early 1390s, as they were intent on
                                                                                                                                          recovering control of the island and re-establishing the rights of the crown. The main
                                                                                                                                          protagonists of these events were the Chiaromontes, the most active undoubtedly
                                                                                                                                          being Manfredi III, who managed to considerably increase his personal supremacy,
                                                                                                                                          reaching a position of almost royal power, a ‘cryptolordship’, as the studies of Patrizia
                                                                                                                                          Sardina have demonstrated [22].
                                                                                                                                              But the fortunes of the family began to decline with the death of Manfredi III. None-
                                                                                                                                          theless, he remained a protagonist in these events and a leading figure in Sicily’s so-
                                                                                                                                          cio-political matters in the second half of the fourteenth century and it was he who or-
                                                                                                                                          dered the Steri ceiling to be executed, in 1377, the year in which he was appointed
                                                                                                                                          Vicar. Its execution, however, remained an isolated episode in the second half of four-
                                                                                                                                          teenth century Sicily, above all as a consequence of the social and ideological detach-
                                                                                                                                          ment of feudalism. Moreover, this is evident from the fact that the baronial palace was
                                                                                                                                          part of the urban structure of the city; it was separate and distant compared to the
                                                                                                                                          context, with its square shape, a symbol of absolute isolation – spiritual, physical, so-
                                                                                                                                          cial – almost as if it were a plastic representation of class discrimination.
                                                                                                                                              This is especially true if one considers the cultural and artistic, or even cosmopolitan,
                                                                                                                                          knowledge, underlying the work in question, whose origins are definitely aristocratic:
                                                                                                                                          from the Islamic art of the Maghreb and the Alhambra, born in the respective courts, to
                                                                                                                                          the Spanish and mudejar art of the courts of Castile and Aragon, to Neapolitan art, a
                                                                                                                                          product of the Angevin court, to Franco-English art, expression of a “courtly” vision.
                                                                                                                                              In short, the Steri’s culture is part of the international culture of the European aris-
                                                                                                                                          tocracy of the late fourteenth century, a culture which appears to be the exemplary
                                                                                                                                          consequence of the isolation of the courts in the social context of belonging.
                                                                                                                                              To better understand Chiaromontane architecture and explain its alternating for-
                                                                                                                                          tunes during the 19th and 20th centuries, it is useful to read the studies of Emanuela
                                                                                                                                          Garofalo, Marco Rosario Nobile and Pierfrancesco Palazzotto [23-24].
                                                                                                                                              It remains to be seen how the ideological adherence of the authors of the ceiling to
                                                                                                                                          the specific characteristics of the Courtly Style was expressed5. First of all, through the
                                                                                                                                          noble coats of arms, whose presence and number symbolically represent the noble
                                                                                                                                          self-glorification of the medieval chivalric aristocracy, together with the awareness of
                                                                                                                                          the aesthetic value of such self-glorification. It follows that nobility and beauty are as-


                                                                                              346
pects of one single thing, indeed, beauty is not only a consequence of nobility but is an
inherent feature that derives from its social election.
     In addition to this, since the coats of arms of other families and the royal houses of
Aragon and Naples also appear in the ceiling (together with Bavaria, Bohemia, Bur-
gundy, Brunswick-Monferrato, Castile-Leon, Clermont or Papacy, Jerusalem, Portugal,
Hungary) [20], it is probable that the desire to exalt their rank is associated with the
idea of exalting their peers, thus transforming the representation of their nobility into a
celebration of this institution, driven by a marked pride in their class; pride is seen,
moreover, as an ethical ideal or an ideal of life related to piety and virtue, in other words
to honour, a key element in the life of these nobles. The heraldic exaltation of the no-
bility and the incarnation of virtues in the noble figure stems from the secular and pro-
fane character of the work, a character that favours a secular life over an ascetic one,
typical of the feudal-aristocratic vision of the world, especially in international late
Gothic culture. But, in speaking of the Steri, neither can the fact that this phenomenon
is also found in the thirteenth-fourteenth century culture of Western Islam, be ignored.


   6. From the past to the present: educational opportunities and prospects at
      the University of Palermo

    The Steri passed to the University of Palermo, as mentioned earlier, in 1967, and
was the most important moment in the life of the monument, due to the strong symbol-
ic value represented by the bond established between them, which, right from the start,
made it the centre of the University. It became the representative seat of the Rectorate
and was committed to fully financing its restoration and recovery: a recovery that con-
tinued over the years and was not only limited to the Sala Magna, but progressively
extended to include the structures of the whole area.
    It should also be noted that the Steri became the seat of the University Rectorate
at a moment in which it was undergoing a transformation, making it more profoundly




                                                                                                  CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
democratic and thus, from being an elite cultural institution it became a vital organism,
a participant in current problems, the emblem of a culture open to everyone. Not only
that, just as in the years when it was the seat of the Inquisition, the Steri was a para-
digmatic place for cultural oppression and dogmatic violence, so today, as a university
seat, it is a place institutionally suited to freedom of thought and experimentation.
    The University of Palermo was founded in 1806. In just over two hundred years, it
has become a powerful scientific and cultural force, whose students, teaching and
technical-administrative staff and offices (not only in Palermo, but also in Agrigento,
Caltanisetta and Trapani), are the expression of a dynamic activity that produces cul-
ture, research, innovation, training and employment, while promoting social and terri-
torial development.
    The University offers a wide range of courses and is divided into a number of de-
gree syllabi that cover the entire gamut of disciplines from the humanities, including the
arts, cultural heritage, communication and social sciences, to law, politics, economics,
medicine, biology, chemistry, physics, maths, and agrifood, architectural, engineering
and information technologies.
    Academic standards are high, and there are a multitude of training and profession-
al opportunities, as well as a strong focus on the dynamics of internationalization and
building relations with foreign universities to collaborate on various projects.
    Palermo’s position, in the centre of the Mediterranean, also makes it the historical
crossroads of the peoples from across the water, as indeed is visible in the city’s cul-


                                                                                                347
                                                                                                                                          ture and way of life, which are the result of the encounter, overlapping, crossing and
                                                                                                                                          integration of different histories and traditions.
S. Lorusso, Franco Palla, M. C. Di Natale, G. Travagliato - The Steri, the historical site of Palermo University: past, present, future




                                                                                                                                               Aware of this historical and cultural reality, the University of Palermo fosters rela-
                                                                                                                                          tionships between young people of different nationalities, promoting its network of ser-
                                                                                                                                          vices, supporting students in their university career with the Centre for Orientation and
                                                                                                                                          Tutoring, providing language lessons with the School of Italian for foreigners and legal
                                                                                                                                          support with the Human Rights Legal Clinic, medical assistance with the University
                                                                                                                                          medical clinic and, lastly, helping disabled students with transport and accompaniment
                                                                                                                                          services, personal assistance and peer tutoring.
                                                                                                                                               Special attention is also paid to the possibility of facilitating the study and atten-
                                                                                                                                          dance of young asylum seekers, or those in possession of international protection, as
                                                                                                                                          well as that of concretely guaranteeing the right to gender identity, given the fact it is a
                                                                                                                                          basis of the fundamental right to personal identity.
                                                                                                                                               Hence, there seem to be numerous reasons to study in Palermo: the geographical-
                                                                                                                                          ly strategic position of the city, its international character, the vast and diversified edu-
                                                                                                                                          cational offer, the peculiarity of the research objectives with the added value of the re-
                                                                                                                                          search products themselves, the recognition of students’ centrality and needs, the
                                                                                                                                          wide-ranging cultural offer (the University network of museums and other museum
                                                                                                                                          networks, libraries, cultural events, tourist and cultural attractions of excellence, food
                                                                                                                                          and wine traditions), the sports available at the University Sports Centre, whose nu-
                                                                                                                                          merous services guarantee students the possibility of combining study and free time,
                                                                                                                                          and moreover, provides concessions and benefits for student-athletes attending didac-
                                                                                                                                          tic activities and compulsory internships.


                                                                                                                                              Notes

                                                                                                                                              1
                                                                                                                                                  The name of the building referred to as Steri, derives from the low Latin Hosterium,
                                                                                                                                          and was used to indicate various Sicilian buildings of the time.
                                                                                                                                               2
                                                                                                                                                  The mudéjar ceilings, also called artesonados, are wooden ceilings in which ad-
                                                                                                                                          ditional, often, interlacing strips are applied on the beams that support the roof to form
                                                                                                                                          decorative geometric patterns.
                                                                                                                                               3
                                                                                                                                                  In Spain, the term mudejares refers to Muslims who remained faithful to their reli-
                                                                                                                                          gion even after the Christian reconquest. To them we owe the continuation of Hispan-
                                                                                                                                          ic-Arab art in a style which, though presenting several variations, is essentially a faithful
                                                                                                                                          continuation of the Muslim tradition. It is, essentially, a Christian style that incorporates
                                                                                                                                          elements of Arab inspiration.
                                                                                                                                               4
                                                                                                                                                  Sumptuary art is defined as a particularly sumptuous art form, often linked to the
                                                                                                                                          processing of precious materials (gold, silver, precious stones, etc.) and to the creation
                                                                                                                                          of laquers, stuccos, miniatures, tapestries.
                                                                                                                                               5
                                                                                                                                                 International Gothic, International Style or Courtly Style, is a style of figurative arts,
                                                                                                                                          datable to between the end of the fourteenth century and mid-fifteenth century. As the
                                                                                                                                          different names indicate, it spread internationally and had many characteristics in com-
                                                                                                                                          mon, as well as many local variables. However, the style did not spread from a central
                                                                                                                                          starting point to then propagate itself, it was, rather, the result of a dialogue between
                                                                                                                                          the European courts which was favoured by the numerous reciprocal exchanges. Its
                                                                                                                                          features included the accentuation of many Gothic mannerisms, particular and realistic
                                                                                                                                          observation, accurate presentation of the details, the brightness of the colours, a predi-
                                                                                                                                          lection for extremely elegant, refined forms, thus making it appear to be the fruit of a
                                                                                                                                          courtly, privileged society.


                                                                                              348
      References

[1]     Inveges, A., (1651) La Cartagine siciliana a Palermo, Palermo, libro II.
[2]     Di Marzo, G., (1858-64) Delle Belle Arti in Sicilia dai Normanni fino alla fine del
        sec. XIV, vol. I, Palermo 1858, pp. 32 et seq; vol. II, Palermo 1859, pp. 188 ss.
[3]     Di Marzo, G., (1899) La pittura in Palermo nel Rinascimento. Storia e documenti,
        Palermo, pp.28 et seq.
[4]     Gabrici E., (1923) La materia del “cantare di Elena” nel soffitto Chiaramonte di
        Palermo, in “Giornale Di Sicilia”, n. 202.
[5]     Gabrici, E., (1927) Lo Steri di Palermo e le sue pitture, in “Bollettino della R.
        Accademia di Scienze Lettere Arti di Palermo”, pp. 8 et seq.
[6]     Gabrici, E., (1928) Il soffitto istoriato nel Palazzo Steri di Palermo, in “La Sicilia-
        na”, pp. 78 et seq.
[7]     Gabrici, E., Levi, E., (1932) Lo Steri di Palermo e le sue pitture. R. Accademia di
        Scienze Lettere e Arti di Palermo. Supplemento agli Atti n.1, Milano-Roma
[8]     Levi, E., (1924) L’epopea medievale nelle pitture del palazzo Chiaramonte a
        Palermo: la storia di Elena, in “Dedalo”, V, pp. 133 et seq.
[9]     Levi, E., (1925) Un juglar español en Sicilia, Juan de Valladolid, in “Homenaje a
        D. Ramòn Menéndez Pidal”, vol. III, pp. 419-439
[10]    Levi, E., (1927) Il delitto del re Evilmeradac nelle pitture dello “Steri”, in “Dedalo”,
        VIII, fasc. 7
[11]    Levi, E., (1928) Gli inventari dello Steri di Palermo, in “Studi medievali”, serie III,
        vol. I, pp.471 et seq. L
[12]    Levi E., (1932) Un nuovo cimelio d’iconografia virgiliana, in “Miscellanea di studi
        su Virgilio nel Medioevo” “Studi medievali”, n.s., Torino, pp. 262-65
[13]    Lanza, V., (1940) Saggio sui soffitti siciliani dal sec. XII al XVII, in “Atti della R.
        Accademia di Scienze, Lettere e Arti di Palermo, serie IV, vol. I, parte II, pp. 178-224
[14]    Toesca, P., (1951) Il Trecento, Torino, pp. 695-96, 832-34
[15]    Folena, G., (1956) Introduzione a La Istoria di Eneas volgarizzata per Angilu di




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        Capua, Palermo, pp. XIII-XV
[16]    Li Gotti, E., (1956) Sopravvivenze delle leggende carolingie in Sicilia. Biblioteca
        del Centro di Studi filologici e linguistici italiani, IX, pp. 16 et seq.
[17]    Bruni, F., (1973) Introduzione a Libru di li vitii et di li virtuti. Palermo, vol. I,
        pp. LXXIX- LXXX
[18]    Bologna, F., (1975) Il soffitto della Sala Magna allo Steri di Palermo, Palermo
[19]    Travagliato, G., (2020) Un monte in cinque colline, Palermo, pp. 131-146
[20]    Buchtal, H., (1971) Historia Troiana, London
[21]    De Castro, E., (2020) In gara coi re, Palermo, pp. 111-129
[22]    Sardina, P., (2020) I Chiaromonte nella Sicilia del Trecento, pp. 33-64
[23]    Garofalo, E., Nobile M.R, (2020) “Cent’anni di solitudine”? L’architettura dei
        Chiaromonte, pp. 67-80
[24]    Palazzotto, P., (2020) La fortuna artistica, avversa, dello Steri nel XX secolo,
        pp. 147-168


      Biographical notes

    Salvatore Lorusso formerly a full Professor in Chemistry of the Environment and
of Cultural Heritage at the University of Bologna. He is a Foreign Member of the Russian
Academy of Natural Sciences; Emeritus Professor of the Cultural Heritage Institute of


                                                                                                   349
                                                                                                                                          Zhejiang University (China); formerly a Visiting Professor at the Academy of Social
                                                                                                                                          Science of Zhejiang University, China; Visiting Professor of the Faculty of Arts, Lo-
S. Lorusso, Franco Palla, M. C. Di Natale, G. Travagliato - The Steri, the historical site of Palermo University: past, present, future




                                                                                                                                          monosov Moscow State University, Russia; formerly vice-president and Councilor of
                                                                                                                                          the Società Italiana per il Progresso delle Scienze (SIPS, established in 1839). He is
                                                                                                                                          the General Director of the Accademia della Cultura Enogastronomica. His biography
                                                                                                                                          appears in the 2016 Marquis Edition of Who’s Who in the World. He is the author of
                                                                                                                                          over 445 publications in national and international journals and 25 volumes and mono-
                                                                                                                                          graphs covering commodity science, cultural heritage and environmental issues. In
                                                                                                                                          1997, he founded the Diagnostic Laboratory for Cultural Heritage at the Ravenna
                                                                                                                                          Campus of the University of Bologna and was head of the Laboratory for eighteen
                                                                                                                                          years. In 2001 he founded the historical-technical Journal “Conservation Science in
                                                                                                                                          Cultural Heritage” of which he is Editor-in-Chief. His scientific work deals mainly with
                                                                                                                                          the study of the “system: artifact-environment-biota” and diagnostic, analytical, techni-
                                                                                                                                          cal and economic evaluation within the context of the protection and valorization of
                                                                                                                                          cultural and environmental heritage.

                                                                                                                                              Franco Palla is Associate Professor of Applied and Environmental Botany at the
                                                                                                                                          University of Palermo, Italy (2011 to date). He teaches on the five-year Degree in
                                                                                                                                          Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage (formerly the co-ordinator from
                                                                                                                                          2015-2021); Master Degree in Biodiversity and Environmental Biology; Degree in Bio-
                                                                                                                                          technology. He is the head of the Laboratory of Biology and Biotechnologies for Cultural
                                                                                                                                          Heritage at the Department of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and
                                                                                                                                          Technologies (STEBICEF) at the University of Palermo, Italy. His base and applied re-
                                                                                                                                          search focuses on biotechnologies for the conservation and restoration of cultural heri-
                                                                                                                                          tage, used to characterize microbial deterioration in cultural assets, to isolate and identi-
                                                                                                                                          fy bioactive molecules with enzymatic or antimicrobial activity, and in the characterization
                                                                                                                                          and use of plant essential oils as bio-pesticides. He is the corresponding author of 198
                                                                                                                                          papers published in international and national scientific journals, books and proceedings,
                                                                                                                                          related to the field of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology for the study and conserva-
                                                                                                                                          tion of cultural and natural heritage. He is the UNIPA-coordinator for theoretical and
                                                                                                                                          practical activities in PROTECTING PALESTINE 2022: Training in Cultural Heritage
                                                                                                                                          Conservation at the Service of Academic Institutions and the Palestinian Community.
                                                                                                                                          Cooperation Italian Agency; Al Quds University Palestine; University of Palermo, Italy
                                                                                                                                          (2022-2025). He is P.I. in the EUROSTART – AS, A Unicum among Art and Sciences,
                                                                                                                                          Conservation and enhancement of anatomical reproductions attributed to the Sicilian
                                                                                                                                          Ceroplastic School. (Next Generation EU-MUR-UNIPA 2022). He is the UNIPA-Coordi-
                                                                                                                                          nator in research activity concerning the projects (2022 to date): CHEMINOVA, Novel
                                                                                                                                          Technologies for On-site and Remote Collaborative Enriched Monitoring to Detect Struc-
                                                                                                                                          tural and Chemical Damage in Cultural Heritage Assets. Call: HORIZON -CL2- 2023-
                                                                                                                                          HERITAGE -01-01- Advanced technologies for remote monitoring of heritage monu-
                                                                                                                                          ments and artefacts; MED. PRO.: Mediterranean resources for plant Protection. Call:
                                                                                                                                          HORIZON-CL6-2023-FARM2 FORK-01-07 2023 – Fair, healthy and environmentally
                                                                                                                                          friendly food systems from primary production to consumption.

                                                                                                                                              Maria Concetta Di Natale has been full professor of Museology and History of
                                                                                                                                          Collecting since 2003; she has taught History of Applied Arts and Goldsmithing, Histo-
                                                                                                                                          ry of Medieval Art, History of Modern Art and Restoration Theory at the Faculty of Arts,
                                                                                                                                          University of Palermo since 1982. She has written numerous scientific texts on Sicilian
                                                                                                                                          painting of the 14th-19th centuries and goldsmithing and applied arts of the 14th-19th
                                                                                                                                          centuries; she has participated in several study conferences with papers published in


                                                                                                 350
the relevant proceedings and written in various specialised journals. She has scientifi-
cally edited numerous exhibitions and catalogues, including: L’arte del corallo in Sicilia
(1986), Ori e argenti di Sicilia (1989), Il Tesoro nascosto, gioie e argenti per la Madon-
na di Trapani (1995), Splendori di Sicilia. Arti decorative dal Rinascimento al Barocco
(2000), Materiali preziosi dalla terra e dal mare nell’arte Trapanese e della Sicilia occi-
dentale tra il XVIII e il XIX secolo (2003).
    Since 1992 she has been the scientific curator of the Diocesan Museum of Palermo
and since 2010 the scientific director of the Diocesan Museum of Monreale. Since
1998, she has been a member of the Accademia di Scienze Lettere e Arti già del Buon
Gusto in Palermo. In 2000, she published the volume Gioielli di Sicilia, the first study
to reconstruct the history of Sicilian jewellery. Among the conferences she has organ-
ised are: ‘Storia critica e tutela dell’arte nel Novecento. Un’esperienza siciliana a con-
fronto con il dibattito nazionale’ in honour of Maria Accascina (2006) and “Argan e l'in-
segnamento universitario. Gli anni palermitani 1955-1959” (2011).
    She has directed the series of studies “Quaderni di Museologia e Storia del Col-
lezionismo” (Salvatore Sciascia Editore) and directs the Quaderni dell’Osservatorio per
le Arti Decorative in Italia “Maria Accascina” (Plumelia Edizioni), Quaderni del “Museo
Diocesano Monreale” (Plumelia Edizioni), OADI ‒ Digitalia (www.unipa.it/oadi/digitalia)
and the series “Artes” (Palermo University Press).
    In 2006 she founded the Osservatorio per le Arti Decorative in Italia “Maria Accas-
cina”. Since June 2010, she has been the director of the scientific journal OADI. Rivista
dell’Osservatorio per le Arti Decorative in Italia “Maria Accascina” (www.oadirivista.it).

    Giovanni Travagliato, art historian and archivist, he is an associate professor in
Medieval Art History (L-Art/01) at the University of Palermo, where he teaches Medie-
val Art History, Comparative history of medieval art in the Mediterranean and History of
book illumination; from 2004-2020, he was vice-director of the Diocesan Historical Ar-
chives of Palermo (ASDPa). He deals mainly with sources and tools for Art History; his
areas of research include book illumination and maculaturae; Arab-Norman art; gold,




                                                                                                     CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
silver, ivories and enamels; late Gothic painting and sculpture; ecclesiastical, noble
and confraternal patronage and collecting; heraldry for art history. He is a founding mem-
ber of the Centro di studi sulla civiltà artistica dell’Italia meridionale “Giovanni Previtali”;
a member of the Società Internazionale di Studi di Storia della Miniatura, of the Con-
sulta Universitaria Nazionale degli Storici dell’Arte (CUNSTA) and member of numer-
ous scientific committees of national and international congresses, series and journals,
and of the research groups Ius illuminatum (Universidade Nova de Lisboa) and ARCA
(Arquitectura, Ciudat y Arte), University of Cordoba. He has to his credit the editing of
international conferences with related proceedings; since 1991 he has written numer-
ous scientific publications, including monographs, essays and articles, papers in confer-
ences, catalogs for national and international exhibitions, entries in encyclopedias and
dictionaries. Among his latest achievements: a scientific project and exhibition design for
Chiaromonte. Lusso, politica, guerra e devozione nella Sicilia del Trecento. Un restauro
verso il futuro (Palermo, Steri, 2020), and Constancia. Donne e potere nell’impero medi-
terraneo di Federico II (New York, Italian Cultural Institute, 2022).


   Summary

   The aim of the paper is to present the study carried out by the art historian Ferdi-
nando Bologna on the painted ceiling of the Steri in Palermo in an informative but less


                                                                                                   351
                                                                                                                                          formal way, so as to make it more accessible and, therefore, more enjoyable for a
                                                                                                                                          wider audience of enthusiasts and not just experts of the subject.
S. Lorusso, Franco Palla, M. C. Di Natale, G. Travagliato - The Steri, the historical site of Palermo University: past, present, future




                                                                                                                                              The study examines a monument of exceptional importance for the city of Palermo,
                                                                                                                                          highlighting not only the nature of its extraordinary repertoire of late medieval fables,
                                                                                                                                          but also its significance as a document of important historical, iconographic, documen-
                                                                                                                                          tary and literary value.
                                                                                                                                              It also underlines what the Steri represents for Palermo University as a symbol of its
                                                                                                                                          roots in the city context and of the historical-evolutionary continuity of Sicilian society.
                                                                                                                                              The work concludes with a brief reference to the importance that the University of
                                                                                                                                          Palermo has assumed in the little more than two hundred years since its establish-
                                                                                                                                          ment, transforming itself from a cultural institution for the few, to a symbol of a culture
                                                                                                                                          open to all, dynamically projected towards a future of growth and innovation.




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