With great joy I have the pleasure of presenting to local history scholars and art lovers the book written by Professor Giulia Pollini, for the series Debuts of the PhD in Art History, of the La Sapienza University of Rome , published this year 2024, by De Luca Editori d’Arte, “The Bear and the stone, sculpture in Puglia by the Del Balzo Orsini between the 14th and 15th centuries”.
I met Professor Giulia Pollini almost ten years ago, when she began research in our diocesan historical archive of Otranto and carried out the first study investigations in the Basilica of Santa Caterina. In these years of friendship I have been able to appreciate her historical competence and scientific rigor in her study up to a careful meticulous analysis of the sources, obviously all motivated by passion and love for history and art.
This volume offers, for the first time, an overall vision of the sculpture sponsored by the Del Balzo Orsini family, long eclipsed in studies.
“Between the 14th and 15th centuries, the Del Balzo Orsini established themselves as a new political power in the South, giving a marked autonomy to their dominions. Initially counts of the Salento hinterland and then princes of Taranto, they extended their control towards northern Puglia, Basilicata and Campania, undermining the balance of the Neapolitan Crown. In this geography of conquest, it is in Salento that the family left its most lasting mark thanks to an artistic evergetism often associated only with pictorial production”.
The text, however, investigates the stone heritage in light of the strong identity character of the feudal lords, considering the artistic relationships between the territorial tradition, the Regnum and the Adriatic.
I sincerely thank my friend Giulia for donating this “masterpiece” to the academic world which further enriches the knowledge of our local and artistic history, and which certainly cannot be missing from the scholar’s library of the Orsini basilica.
Sac. Antonio Santoro
