On Friday 11 April, at 4 pm, the exhibition Beneventana in fragments: manuscripts preserved in Pesaro, Urbania, Urbino opens in the State Archives of Pesaro.
A documentary exhibition and an afternoon of studies dedicated to six fragments in Beneventan script from the archives and libraries of our province.
Beneventan is a script typical of southern Italy, which spread between the end of the 8th century and the 13th century, with late examples up to the 14th - 15th and even 16th centuries, in an area that corresponds to the territories that once belonged to the Lombards, bordering to the north with the southern part of Lazio and Abruzzo.
The script has a very characteristic morphology; the production center par excellence was the Benedictine monastery of Montecassino, where the type of writing known as “cassinese” was formed, to which all the fragments on display belong. In much of Puglia, with expansion up to Dalmatia, the so-called Bari type developed.
Manuscripts in Benevento in the Marche are very rare, especially in the northern part of the region, where they are reduced to sporadic and fragmentary testimonies, such as those exhibited in the exhibition, and for this reason worthy of attention, as well as special protection.
The presence of these fragments in an area decentralized with respect to the area where writing was most widespread raises questions about their origin and provenance, and also allows us to reflect on the phenomenon of the reuse of parchment manuscripts, particularly frequent between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when parchment fragments of medieval codices were reused as covers or reinforcements for bindings of notary protocols, printed books and registers of various kinds.
A unique opportunity to admire rare and valuable manuscript examples characterized by a high level of formal care and beauty. The restoration to which the fragments were subjected has allowed us to "reveal" some hidden parts with decorated initials.
Two of the six manuscripts on display are also accompanied by musical notations, which offer the possibility of also delving into aspects of medieval liturgy.
Program
Friday, April 11, 4:00 p.m., inauguration and afternoon of studies
Institutional greetings
Benedetto Luigi Compagnoni, Superintendence of Archives and Bibliography of the Marche
Daniele Vimini, Councilor for Culture of the Municipality of Pesaro
Filippo Alessandroni, Diocesan Historical Archives of Pesaro
Alice Lombardelli, Urbania Municipal Library
Brunella Paolini, Oliveriana Library of Pesaro
Speech by:
Sara Cambrini, State Archives of Pesaro Urbino
The fragments of the State Archives and their archival history
Pasquale Orsini, Central Institute for Archives
Polygenetic and multidimensional description of archive materials
Marco Palma, former University of Cassino
Minima Beneventana
Paola Errani, former Malatestiana Library, Cesena
The fragments of the Diocesan Archives and the Oliveriana Library of Pesaro
Fabiana Baudo, Fragmentarium and MEM collaborator, AIMD member
Liturgy in fragments between Fossombrone, Urbania and Urbino
Alessandra Molinari, University of Urbino
A case study from the Textus invisibilis project: the cataloguing of the detached Fragments of the State Archives Section of Urbino
6:00 pm
Guided tour of the exhibition
The exhibition can be visited until June 10 (info and bookings for visits: as-pu@cultura.gov.it)
