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Édifices chrétiens et paysage militaire

Christianity at the Frontiers. The Case of Rometta (Sicily)

Le christianisme aux frontières. Le cas de Rometta (Sicile)
Daniela Patti

Résumés

Au cours de l’Antiquité tardive, le christianisme a modifié et élargi les frontières et les perspectives du sacré. Cela est évident dans la sacralisation des frontières au travers, par exemple, des sanctuaires suburbains mais aussi de l’utilisation du terme limina dans l’épigraphie funéraire. La perception des espaces physiques comme sacrés semble alors s’être fixée, comme en témoigne l’utilisation continue d’espaces qui demeurent sacrés à différentes époques et dans différentes cultures. Les recherches menées à Rometta en Sicile peuvent être liées à la catégorie conceptuelle de la frontière, essentielle à la perception de l’espace et à la dynamique de l’identité. Rometta est un exemple typique en tant que lieu stratégique : située au nord-est de l’île, il s’agit de la dernière frontière entre les deux empires dominants du monde méditerranéen du début du Moyen Âge, Byzance et l’Islam. C’est également un site clé pour l’archéologie byzantine sicilienne et le lieu de résistance ultime face à la domination islamique. Après avoir opposé une défense désespérée, elle tomba en 965 n.è. Située à l’intersection des principales routes et voies de communication entre les plaines fertiles du centre de la Sicile et les Nébrodes, Rometta représente le dernier bastion de la culture byzantine en Sicile. En témoignent les vestiges archéologiques de l’église byzantine Santa Maria dei Cerei, datant du vie au ixe siècle, ainsi que les églises rupestres. L’une comporte plusieurs croix sculptées dans la roche et est probablement liée à une communauté chrétienne primitive.

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Entrées d’index

Index géographique :

Sicile, Nébrodes

Index chronologique :

Antiquité tardive
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Notes de l’auteur

In this paper, I will present some of the results of interdisciplinary research carried out as part of the Italian FIRB project Sacred Spaces and Identity Path. The project, which ran from 2012 to 2017, was coordinated by the University of Bari and involved the Universities of Rome, Enna, and Padua. The project aims to conduct interdisciplinary research into specific sacred places, since these offer an ideal way of exploring the social and cultural history of a given area.

Texte intégral

  • 1 Volpe 2007 and 2009, p. 267; Volpe and Goffredo 2014.
  • 2 Sporn 2013, p. 209; Roma 2014, pp. 180-181.
  • 3 Cantino Wataghin 2011, pp. 320-324.
  • 4 Cantino Wataghin 2011, p. 324; De Stefanis 2011, p. 72.

1Sacred spaces are significant landmarks that represent the identity of the people who visit them. They are also important settings for encounters between different faiths and cultures. Therefore, when studying local contexts, we must analyse all available sources and include the spatial distribution of holy places in our investigation. This approach is based on global history and landscape archaeology, emphasizing the importance of spatial relationships between different archaeological findings in different contexts.1 The sacred dimension is reflected in the specific socio-political organization of space, which is often configured as a landscape of power. The perception of a physical space as sacred seems to become crystallized over time, which helps us to understand why such spaces are used persistently across different periods and cultures.2 During the period of late antiquity, Christianity underwent a transformation that not only widened its boundaries but also shifted human perspectives on the sacred. This expansion is evident in the sacralization of borders,3 as seen in the establishment of suburban sanctuaries and the use of the term limen in funerary epigraphy, which refers to the threshold that leads to the sacred space of divinity.4

  • 5 There is a wealth of literature on this topic; I will mention only Crescenzi and Caprara (2012). Fo (...)

2Sicily became one of the most important places for religious coexistence in the ancient Mediterranean. Christianity, paganism and Judaism coexisted and interacted, creating new forms of coexistence that are also reflected in the processing and reuse of sacred spaces. These spaces are mainly linked to the impressive rocky scenery, which has been known since ancient times. The rocky habitat is a long-term phenomenon that has crossed all Mediterranean civilization. Despite the research issues related to surveying the area and establishing a precise chronology, it often provides context for ancient settlements, characterized by the continuity of rock unit use for different purposes at different times: funerary, residential, religious, and industrial.5

  • 6 All human relationships are played out on a borderline, where identities compete and argue with eac (...)

3If the cave is an important landmark in settlement dynamics, then the cult destination of some rocky outcrops becomes a significant landmark in the organization of sacred spaces and religious practices of local communities in the Byzantine world during the process of Christianization. Research in the context of Rometta may be connected to the conceptual category of the border, which is essential to the perception of space and the formation of identity.6 From this perspective, the signs marking the place as sacred have a dual nature – tangible and intangible – as evidenced by textual sources and archaeological analysis. This is also true in the case of several rock churches and underground sacred spaces investigated as part of the FIRB Future in Research Project (2011‑2017). These settlements have been investigated using ICT tools such as tridimensional surveys and digital photogrammetry, which have proven useful not only for scientific research but also for communication and the exploitation of cultural heritage.

4Here, we present the initial findings of a multidisciplinary historical and archaeological analysis of a pivotal area in north-eastern Sicily. This area is located along major transport routes and passageways, connecting the fertile plains of central Sicily to the Nebrodi mountains. It is also connected to the north via the Strait of Messina and to Calabria, with which it shares Italian Greek monasticism. To the south lie the Iblei mountains, providing access to Syracuse, the capital of the Byzantine theme.

  • 7 Arcifa and Messina 2018; Arcifa et al. 2021; Arcifa and Rognoni 2022; Messina 2022. Refer to the cu (...)

5The landscape of Rometta is an important frontier zone between the two main empires of the early medieval Mediterranean: Byzantium and Islam. For over two and a half centuries (827‑1091 CE), the vast insular territory of Sicily was the site of the convergence and clash of competing social and economic systems, which inevitably redefined its historical landscape and material culture.7

  • 8 Arcifa and Messina 2024, pp. 300-306.
  • 9 Arcifa and Messina 2024, p. 291.
  • 10 Arcifa et al. 2022 ; Castrorao and Mandalà 2023.

6In recent years, archaeological research has identified specific markers for the 8th and 9th centuries. Together with a reinterpretation of the sources, this has enabled a new multidisciplinary approach to be taken in the study of Byzantine and Islamic Sicily, as well as in the redefinition of the Christian landscape in the Arab-Byzantine frontier. In particular, the territorial dimension of monasteries in this area is emerging as increasingly important, linked to the role of Taormina and its diocese,8 which became a point of reference for Greek Christian communities, local aristocracies, and the empire. As has been pointed out, the ‘frontier dimension somehow serves as a backdrop to the adventurous lives of the monks by shaping the socio-economic dimension of the Italo-Grecian monasteries,9 which will assume an increasingly central role in the Christian social world, representing communities between Sicily and southern Italy, and acting as key mediators in the hierarchy of settlements and productive landscapes of mid-Byzantine and Islamic Sicily.10

The Landscape and History

  • 11 Kislinger and Maurici 2015 and 2017.
  • 12 For more information on the complexity of the sieges of Taormina and Rometta, see Prigent 2010, pp. (...)

7Rometta, in the north-eastern part of the island (fig. 1), is known in ancient sources as the last site of Christian resistance to Islamic domination. After a desperate resistance, it was subdued in 965 CE, as all Muslim chroniclers reported, as documented by Michele Amari,11 and as evidenced by recent archaeological research focusing on the complexity of the sieges12 and the strategic role of the fortresses of Rometta and Taormina on the Strait of Messina, which controlled the coasts from above.

Figure 1. Rometta’s location

Figure 1. Rometta’s location

Background map: Consortium of Ancient World Mappers, CC BY 4.0

  • 13 The author of the Cambridge Chronicle was a Sicilian of Latin descent, who was influenced by Greek (...)
  • 14 Cozza Luzi 1890; Gazzara 2013, pp. 236-239; Scibona 1982, p. 433.
  • 15 In the biography of San Saba da Collesano (Codex Vaticanus Graecus 2072) Rometta is identified as t (...)

8The two Greek versions of the so‑called Siculo-Saracen Chronicle of Cambridge,13 as well as the dramatic notation of the same event by San Nilo di Rossano (Nilus the Younger) in the margin of the codex of the works of San Doroteo report the heroic and tragic role played by the city of Rometta in resisting the Muslim conquest of Sicily. After the fall of Messina (843) and Castrogiovanni (859), Rometta became a strategic stronghold and a cultural bastion of Greekness, later revitalized by migratory flows in the 10th century.14 Rometta was the furthest outpost of the Byzantine Empire, and in 964‑965, 138 years after the landing in Marsala from which the progressive conquest of Sicily began, the Berbers threatened to conquer it. According to the same sources, as well as the Life of St Saba of Collesano, written by Oreste, Patriarch of Jerusalem, at the end of the 10th century, the city was referred to as ta erumata, which emphasizes its formidable stronghold status (fig. 2).15

Figure 2. Rometta’s natural fortress, as seen on Google Earth

Figure 2. Rometta’s natural fortress, as seen on Google Earth

Credit: Data SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO; image Airbus

  • 16 Maurici 1992, pp. 18-22.
  • 17 Todesco 2008 and Patti 2017.
  • 18 Sella 1944.

9Rometta is located on a naturally defended plateau, described by the scholar Maurolico (1562) as an oppidum montanum ac natura munitum in agro messanensi quasi parva Rom, and characterized by a defensive system related to the phrourion, according to the model hypothesized for Byzantine fortresses.16 This defensive complex is linked to a system of visual references between the tower located north of the centre of Rometta and the Castle of Milazzo for controlling the mouth of the Saponara River, which has always been used as a route inland, crossing the road that leads to Palermo via the mountains (fig. 3).17 The Rationes Decimarum from 1308/1310 mention the land (i.e. the fortified town within the walls) and the farmhouse of Rometta, which can probably be identified as the suburban town on the sunny western side of the rocky ridge near the district of San Giovanni, where the eponymous cave church is located.18

Figure 3. The location of Rometta, Messina and Saponara

Figure 3. The location of Rometta, Messina and Saponara

Credit: Landsat / Copernicus; Airbus

  • 19 Rometta has considerable archaeological potential, mainly due to its impressive rocky landscape, wh (...)

10The rock churches were published in 1982 by the archaeologist Giacomo Scibona, who led systematic research on the territory in those years and to whom we owe our knowledge of Byzantine Rometta. Unfortunately, some of this research is still unpublished.19

  • 20 For the identification of the toponym with the area of St Nicone Mountain, see Arcifa and Messina 2 (...)

11Even for Rometta – whose frontier role became increasingly important for controlling the Strait of Messina from the late 9th century onwards, alongside the fortified settlements of Taormina, Demenna and Mīq20 –, a detailed analysis of documentary sources related to the resumption of targeted archaeological investigations could be postponed. The same applies to investigations in other neighbouring contexts at the time, which are better documented. These contexts are characterized by a settlement system in which monasteries play a central socio-economic role. These monasteries are connected to the presence of the kastron (κάστρον) and the main road system and can ensure control of access to the sea and mountainous areas. They are also able to ensure the exploitation of land resources and the population of settlements.

Sacred Spaces

  • 21 Messina 2001; Scibona 1982; Patti 2017.

12The research focuses on the rocky settlements of Rometta and two sites traditionally used as places of worship: the basilica in the Sotto San Giovanni District, located along the western cliffs of the mountain, and the church chapel in the Sotto Castello District. Another site of interest is the rock sanctuary at the Capuchin Monastery,21 located on the boundary of the urban area on the western side. Investigating these sites is challenging due to the difficulty of defining their typology (for example, the basilica has been identified as either a church or a mosque, ignoring the transformations connected with its non-cultic use) and chronology. Such problems are typical of this kind of archaeological research concerning structures carved out in negative. Studying rocky environments also raises issues regarding the distribution of spaces: archaeological surveys and geometric representations of these complex shapes and highly irregular surfaces are challenging tasks. Therefore, careful investigative methods (analysis, cataloguing, and survey) are required to reconstruct the stratigraphic sequence of these continuously reused spaces. This becomes even more difficult in cases like Rometta, where the absence of frescoes makes chronological classification difficult.

  • 22 Scibona 1982, p. 461.
  • 23 Scibona 1976; Giglio and Lo Curzio 1990; Giglio 2013.
  • 24 Scibona 2017; the paper is published posthumously courtesy of the widow, Prof. Concetta Giuffrè Sci (...)

13However, the most notable example of Byzantine architecture in Rometta, a key reference point for Byzantine Sicilian archaeology,22 is undoubtedly the church of Santa Maria dei Cerei, formerly known as St Jesus and Mary (fig. 4),23 particularly considering the new data from the survey of the Byzantine cemetery built in front of the church. This data was recently made available thanks to the widow of Prof. Giacomo Scibona.24 Unfortunately, the dating of the rock churches to the Byzantine period remains unclear, one of which has several crosses carved in the rock and is probably related to an early Christian community.

Figure 4. The church of Santa Maria dei Cerei

Figure 4. The church of Santa Maria dei Cerei

Credit: Wikimedia Commons, Davide Mauro, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Rock Sanctuary at the Capuchin Monastery

  • 25 Messina 2001, p. 100.

14The rock church inside the Capuchin convent is believed to be the same church dedicated to San Giorgio, which was assigned to the Capuchins in 1585. By the 1980s,25 the church had been destroyed by the construction of a large tank, which covered half of it. Furthermore, the church is no longer accessible due to a wall obstructing access.

The Church Chapel in the Sotto Castello District

  • 26 Caprara and Dell’Aquila 2004, p. 459.
  • 27 Messina 2001, p. 96.

15The cave is located on the north side of the mountain, alongside the ancient access ramp to Rometta, and very close to the medieval fortification wall. It has an almost square plan (4.10 m × 3.50 m) and a small room opens along the east wall. This room was probably used for funerary purposes in the past (fig. 5). The cave was later reused as a church, as evidenced by the lowered floor level and the construction of the double sloping roof. The ceiling is 2.70 m high at its highest point: these measurements are usually found in late antiquity but were still in use in the 12th‑14th centuries.26 The floor was lowered further in a third phase for the installation of a small production plant, as evidenced by the signs of excavation in the west wall. The mirror writing epigraphic is especially meaningful due to the presence of the monogrammatic cross and its association with cross-shaped marks (fig. 6). It is thought that these rock engravings are linked to a Christian cult; however, it is difficult to date them to the Byzantine era. Carved crosses would testify to the cave’s continuous use as a road chapel, which was replaced in modern times (17th century?) by the rural chapel of Madonna della Scala.27 However, the cave is related to other rock units excavated along the massive rocky ridge that characterizes the Sotto Castello District, where traces of several arcosolia graves are recognizable.

Figure 5. The Sotto Castello District. Rock church chapel

Figure 5. The Sotto Castello District. Rock church chapel

Credit: Images and plan A. Zappani, the FIRB Project, based on 3D Survey

Figure 6. The Sotto Castello District. Rock church chapel

Figure 6. The Sotto Castello District. Rock church chapel

1. Photogrammetry. 2.‑3. 3D shading 4.‑5. Crosses carved on the wall

Credit: Images and modelization A. Zappani, the FIRB Project

Basilica in the Sotto San Giovanni District

  • 28 Messina 1998.

16The church, known as the Basilica of San Salvatore, is located on the western side of the ridge. It is surrounded by excavations that are now used as warehouses and has a collapsed frontage. It was also inhabited because it was sunnier and was probably the country house mentioned in the Rationes Decimarum. The cave has a rectangular plan (10.40 m × 5.90 m) and a wide niche along the bottom (3.15 m wide and 1.30 m deep). It originally had seven naves, divided by twelve pillars. These were destroyed in 1910 when the cave was converted into a stable (fig. 7). The main central nave is aligned with the central niche, and there are three small votive shrines carved into the lower part of the aisles. The remains of a rectangular base are present, which are probably related to a wall altar made of wood and obtained by lowering the original floor by about 30 cm. Mere fragments of devotional frescoes with a red double-band frame are faintly visible on the pillar to the left of the niche in the central nave. The church was probably originally dedicated to Saint Nicholas (a saint mentioned in the 14th-century Rationes Decimarum). According to Messina, it reused a previous mosque,28 which was connected to the 10th-century Islamic farmhouse, and was used to strengthen the fortifications and urbanize the rural population. Messina’s interpretation of this rock unit as a mosque is supported by its specific plan: a rectangular hypostyle room with an axial nave leading to the mihrab, flanked by aisles parallel to the qibla wall, which is oriented towards Mecca.

Figure 7. The Sotto Castello District. Plan and photograph of the Basilica

Figure 7. The Sotto Castello District. Plan and photograph of the Basilica

The plan was created using a mesh from a 3D survey

Credit: A. Zappani, the FIRB project

  • 29 Messina 1979, p. 21.
  • 30 The Edict of Leo Isaurico relates to the creation of new liturgical spaces characterized by a clear (...)
  • 31 Cugno and Dell’Aquila 2017, p. 109.
  • 32 Caprara and Dell’Aquila 2004, p. 459.

17This space, along with the mosque of the Balzo della Rossa in Sperlinga, central Sicily, would constitute the oldest example in Sicily of an Islamic cult building carved into rock. However, this hypothesis would contradict the same scholar’s previous theory that the Basilica of San Salvatore is ‘the most archaic example (dating from the middle of the 8th and the first half of the 9th century) of eastern inscribed cross churches with clear parallels in the Syriac context’.29 The planimetric and spatial articulation of these churches, and especially in Sicily the systematic adoption of the wooden templon, would be connected to the Norman policy of re‑Christianizing the island.30 The templon is a valuable indicator of absolute chronology because many churches in Apulia date to the second half of the 11th century.31 Currently, the dating of these two rock churches to the Norman or Byzantine period is unclear, partly due to the difficulties of establishing an absolute chronology in rock settlements. Some scholars believe that the church chapel is a late medieval road chapel, connecting the cross engravings with pilgrims passing by. Meanwhile, the planimetric scheme of the Basilica of San Salvatore refers to the second half of the 11th century as a terminus postquem. Even the height of the two churches’ rooftops doesn’t help us, as this height (2.7 m) is commonly found in similar rock churches in late antiquity and the 12th‑14th centuries.32

  • 33 The strong presence of Italian and Greek saints working in Sicily and Calabria is well documented. (...)
  • 34 At the same time, small churches with private (?) use (not only funerary) are documented, and are w (...)

18Of the two places of worship examined here, the one in the Sotto Castello District could be linked to the presence of hermit monks.33 However, it could also be identified as the destination of a local pilgrimage, as suggested by a rock carving below the castle ridge. The rock church in the district of Sotto San Giovanni is probably a community place of worship, presumably initiated by the clergy.34

  • 35 As previously mentioned, the Greek culture was probably strengthened by migratory flows in Sicily a (...)
  • 36 Amari and Rizzitano 1997-1998, p. 449. The town of Castrogiovanni, in the middle of the island, was (...)

19Analysis of the data suggests that these two places of worship are linked to the revived Greek culture favoured by the Norman policy of re‑Christianizing Sicily, partly through the immigration of Greek people.35 However, the suggestion is made that the arcosolia, which are still visible under the castle’s ridge, are linked to the rural settlement sub divo, and that the varied use of these rock structures (for worship, housing, production, etc.) is connected to events involving Rometta. The town was able to exploit its strategic position to become a centre of primary importance after the fall of Messina (843) and Castrogiovanni (859).36

The Church of Santa Maria dei Cerei

  • 37 Arcifa 2005; Arcifa 2011; Miano 2024.
  • 38 Starting from the coast, the royal way followed the Saponara stream. It passed through Rometta befo (...)
  • 39 The Rationes Decimarum from 1308 to 1310 mention the land (the fortified settlement within the wall (...)

20According to the sources, Rometta became the central point of the East Island’s road system in the 8th and 9th centuries, which was also related to the reorganization of the dromos by the Byzantine emperor.37 In this area of Val Demone, significant innovations to the road system occurred in the Byzantine age, connected to the royal route that linked the fortified settlement of Rometta to the hinterland. This was useful for connecting the Ionian and Tyrrhenian coasts of the island. This royal street is mentioned as bordering a vineyard in the territory of Rometta, in the country house of San Andrea.38 In the first half of the 14th century, the church was incorporated into a cloistered women’s monastery dedicated to St Clare, and it has undergone numerous alterations over the centuries, especially in the early 20th century. These changes have had a profound effect on the original architecture. It was documented in the 15th and 16th centuries along with other above-ground farmhouses that must be linked to the rock habitat.39

  • 40 Scibona 2017.
  • 41 This chronology is confirmed by Scibona’s excavation of the necropolis, which allows the constructi (...)
  • 42 Atik Mustafà Giamì of Constantinople (5th century), church of the Virgin Diaconissa (598), and Sain (...)

21In fact, the latest archaeological research carried out at the site of the church of Santa Maria dei Cerei by the scholar Giacomo Scibona has revealed a Byzantine cemetery built by the church, as well as the foundations of the narthex. This allows us to reconsider the absolute chronology of the church itself and provide new, very important data that can be used as a benchmark within the broader context of the Byzantine settlement of Rometta. According to the sources, the destruction in 965 is a fundamental reference point for the archaeology of Byzantine Sicily. The church is externally presented as a massive cube topped by an octagonal drum enclosing the dome, and inside it has a Greek cross plan with barrel-covered vaults flanked by four square angular spaces covered with crosses, all of which support a grandiose dome that originates directly from the ground.40 Most scholars date the construction of the church of Rometta to the 10th or 11th century. The church was built by workers who, in the Byzantine era (9th‑10th centuries), used typical Roman construction methods. As early as 1940, Pietro Lojacono had proposed an earlier chronology (7th century)41 based on Constantinopolitan and oriental examples of churches with a centric plan,42 thus suggesting a typological and stylistic framing within the context of typical Byzantine architectural experiences.

  • 43 Imbesi 2021, p. 247.
  • 44 Imbesi 2021, p. 248
  • 45 Imbesi 2021, p. 257.

22Some geophysical investigations conducted using electrical tomography between 2010 and 2017 revealed underlying structures, including an excavation measuring 5 m in length at a depth of approximately 1.20‑1.30 m. This excavation was located along the eastern elevation of the church,43 at the central entrance and in alignment with the internal channel leading to the basin. Traces of cocciopesto were found under the dome,44 which could be connected to an older water system. While the geophysical investigations and some excavation trials conducted during this period seem to confirm the original installation in the Byzantine period due to the construction technique used, a stratigraphic analysis of the remaining masonry and a careful reinterpretation of the data, involving further trials, are necessary to understand the installation’s different usage phases and chronology. Although the hypothesis that the initial design of the church was a baptistery connected to an early Christian basilica is suggestive, it remains very implausible and has not yet been identified.45

*

23Giacomo Scibona’s observations of the church walls, especially the façade, and the surveying carried out in the area in front of the church have provided basic data relating to:

  1. The presence of a Byzantine cemetery on the rock directly beneath the church.
  2. The discovery of the foundations of the three-door narthex adds a significant new element to the monument’s architecture and chronology.
  • 46 Krautheimer 1986, p. 271.

24New archaeological data suggest that the church may have been built in the 6th century. This is also based on comparisons with the type of inscribed-cross churches known in the Greek East during the late antique period, such as the martyrion of Hosios David in Thessaloniki or that of St Elias in Ezra. According to Krautheimer’s dating,46 the church of Santa Maria dei Cerei would be, in the Byzantine West, a provincial and simplified version of the engraved cross type, which was widespread in the East. Another important focus of archaeological research concerns the location of the necropolis before the construction of the church, which was located close to one of the city’s two gateways (the so‑called Porta Terra). According to Scibona, the location of the church may not be accidental; it would imbue the church with symbolic meaning, almost as a bulwark against the Muslims’ final siege, representing the last bastion of Greek culture and Christianity in Sicily.

  • 47 Like many other buildings in the Alcantara Valley, the church is part of a group of structures know (...)

25Currently, only a careful re‑examination of the existing data (some of which is unpublished) and new archaeological research will enable us to gain a more precise understanding of the different functions and chronology of this poorly defined central building.47

26The new survey of frontier landscapes focuses on new interpretative guidelines and specific research issues. Landscape transformations respond to changing needs over time, with solutions conditioned by the morphological characteristics and demographic consistency of different areas.

  • 48 Zagari 2016; Walker 2007.

27The fortresses built in the north-eastern part of the island, such as the small kastra of Rometta and Demenna-San Marco d’Alunzio, played a key role in establishing this area as a power centre between the end of the 9th and 10th centuries, when southern Italy occupied a central position in the strait under Byzantine military control. The topographical choices along the river areas and hillsides of Calabria and Sicily are currently linked to the exploitation of forest, livestock, and water resources, which predate the Italian Greek monastic foundations that became widespread in southern Italy after the Byzantine reconquest.48 However, the survival of these institutions seems to lie at the heart of the Norman Renaissance, when Italian monasticism will experience a new period of development along the same roads thanks to the many concessions granted by the Norman monarchy. The new foundations, largely royal, spread out along ancient Byzantine lines, helping to consolidate Norman power.

  • 49 Pirri 1733, p. 495 and Starrabba 1893, p. 46: omnes autem ecclesias civitates, et castella cum vici (...)
  • 50 Longo 2011.

28The close union between the viability of the Nebrodi and the dislocation of the monastic offices was particularly important in Norman times. The Altavilla were completely involved in the reorganization of the dioceses49 and the redefinition of control over this area and the whole island. The Italian Greek religious foundations, especially in the Nebrodi area, played an important role in communication. Knowledge of monastic sites in the Nebrodi area from Norman times is important not only for understanding the organization of the territory, but also for interpreting the religious and spiritual conceptions of the religious orders present in this area of the island more accurately. This clearly influences the cultural representation of the territory. In this case, the cultural production of the monasteries in this area – first and foremost the important monastery of San Filippo di Fragalà – should be systematically analysed, as it constitutes ‘essential proof of the presence of institutions in the territory and of how these institutions were represented’.50 Archaeological and documentary sources, especially those produced within individual monastic institutions, are crucial not only for understanding the formation and rearrangement of the identity and ideology of these institutions, but also for providing insight into the ideological concept of the territory and establishing the power geography of that period.

  • 51 Arcifa 2019 and Arcifa and Sgarlata 2020.

29This aspect has not been sufficiently investigated and requires a new approach to clarify the origin and development of these institutions, the extent to which their borders were expanded, and the degree of continuity with the past. Reassessing a proto-Byzantine Sicily and its socio-economic context in the Byzantine Mediterranean provides new interpretative possibilities, inviting a more complex and aware approach to the transformation of settlements, especially in border areas.51

  • 52 Metcalfe 2002; Mougoyianni 2018; Molinari 2019.

30Over the last twenty years, the spread of medieval archaeological research – bolstered by a more incisive understanding of material markers from the 8th and 9th centuries – has seen a progressive shift in the focus of research towards the Early Middle Ages, with a particular emphasis on the castralization of the thematic era, the formation of the internal border between Byzantium and Islam, and the specific issues associated with the so‑called Byzantinization and Islamization of the social context of the island.52 The renewed historical framework, thanks to contributions from historians, Byzantinists, and scholars of Islamic history, has strongly encouraged reconsideration of the island and this area, shifting its perception from a peripheral location within the empire to a hub of Mediterranean policy since the time of Justinian’s reconquest.

  • 53 Arcifa and Messina 2024, p. 310.

31Recent archaeological investigations have highlighted the central role of monastic institutions in redefining the island’s settlement system. Following the weakening of diocesan structures, monasteries became a point of reference for communities, transcending their religious role to include precise forms of political and institutional representation. This was in the context of a complex relationship of interdependence between inland communities and the main port cities, which were subject to shifting allegiances between empires.53 Similarly, future archaeological investigations in Rometta will provide significant evidence for defining the Arab-Byzantine frontier, with power centres shifting between the two empires.

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Bibliographie

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Notes

1 Volpe 2007 and 2009, p. 267; Volpe and Goffredo 2014.

2 Sporn 2013, p. 209; Roma 2014, pp. 180-181.

3 Cantino Wataghin 2011, pp. 320-324.

4 Cantino Wataghin 2011, p. 324; De Stefanis 2011, p. 72.

5 There is a wealth of literature on this topic; I will mention only Crescenzi and Caprara (2012). For information on the rock settlements of Rometta, see the following publications: Scibona 1982; Messina 2001; Patti 2017.

6 All human relationships are played out on a borderline, where identities compete and argue with each other: Lattanzi 2002, pp. 150-151; see also Ceccarini 2014.

7 Arcifa and Messina 2018; Arcifa et al. 2021; Arcifa and Rognoni 2022; Messina 2022. Refer to the current research work, Sicily in Transition (Project ERC Advanced Grant 2016-693600), Principal Investigator Martin Carver (professor emeritus of Medieval Archaeology at York University) and Alessandra Molinari (full professor of Christian and Medieval Archaeology at Tor Vergata University).

8 Arcifa and Messina 2024, pp. 300-306.

9 Arcifa and Messina 2024, p. 291.

10 Arcifa et al. 2022 ; Castrorao and Mandalà 2023.

11 Kislinger and Maurici 2015 and 2017.

12 For more information on the complexity of the sieges of Taormina and Rometta, see Prigent 2010, pp. 64-65.

13 The author of the Cambridge Chronicle was a Sicilian of Latin descent, who was influenced by Greek language and culture, as evidenced by his use of Byzantine chronology. The text was also published in Greek in 1890. The original title is Chronography from when the Saracens entered Sicily. Despite its brevity, it is probably the most important document on Byzantine and Muslim Sicily, written by someone who experienced or had direct knowledge of the events. It was discovered in two versions: Codex Vaticanus 1912 and Codex Parisinus Graecus 920. It was published by the Vatican Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. A new critical edition by Jeremy Johns is expected (Gazzara 1979; Santagati 2013b, pp. 27‑28).

14 Cozza Luzi 1890; Gazzara 2013, pp. 236-239; Scibona 1982, p. 433.

15 In the biography of San Saba da Collesano (Codex Vaticanus Graecus 2072) Rometta is identified as ta erumata; see Cozza Luzi 1890.

16 Maurici 1992, pp. 18-22.

17 Todesco 2008 and Patti 2017.

18 Sella 1944.

19 Rometta has considerable archaeological potential, mainly due to its impressive rocky landscape, which has been recognized since ancient times. This landscape is characterized by the continuous use of rock formations for various purposes, such as funerals, housing, worship and production, throughout different eras. Many of these sites are located close to roads and rivers, on steep and terraced slopes, particularly in the districts of Sotto San Giovanni and Sotto Castello, home to some of the most significant rock churches.

20 For the identification of the toponym with the area of St Nicone Mountain, see Arcifa and Messina 2024, pp. 306-309.

21 Messina 2001; Scibona 1982; Patti 2017.

22 Scibona 1982, p. 461.

23 Scibona 1976; Giglio and Lo Curzio 1990; Giglio 2013.

24 Scibona 2017; the paper is published posthumously courtesy of the widow, Prof. Concetta Giuffrè Scibona, see Giuffrè Scibona 2017. There is a fairly extensive bibliography on this church. The most analytical archaeological study is the work of Scibona, who also excavated the Byzantine necropolis in front of the church. The excavation data enable the construction of the building’s narthex to be dated back further. The church is mentioned briefly in sources from the second half of the 18th century by Vito Amico (1855), but was otherwise unknown to scholars until 1927. Several scholars have studied this church. For a full list of references, see Scibona 2017.

25 Messina 2001, p. 100.

26 Caprara and Dell’Aquila 2004, p. 459.

27 Messina 2001, p. 96.

28 Messina 1998.

29 Messina 1979, p. 21.

30 The Edict of Leo Isaurico relates to the creation of new liturgical spaces characterized by a clear separation between the area for the congregation and the presbyterium. This is achieved using devices such as the iconostasis or by connecting the apse area to the prothesis and diaconicon (Tomasello 2008; Patti 2017, p. 195, n. 45). In recent years, historical research into the re-Christianization of the island during the Norman period has emphasized the limited presence of Byzantine culture and downplayed the Islamic presence, previously thought to be all-encompassing (Re and Rognoni 2014).

31 Cugno and Dell’Aquila 2017, p. 109.

32 Caprara and Dell’Aquila 2004, p. 459.

33 The strong presence of Italian and Greek saints working in Sicily and Calabria is well documented. There was an influx of people from western Sicily in the 10th century, led by Saint Saba; see Patti 2017, p. 195, n. 46.

34 At the same time, small churches with private (?) use (not only funerary) are documented, and are widespread in Apulia, Basilicata, and Campania: Messina 2001, p. 95; Patti 2017, p. 195, n. 47. Amico (1855; Messina, p. 410) writes regarding this area: ‘The land is very productive in wine, oil, grain and legumes, and is celebrated for the beauty of its silk, holding the primacy in all the district.’

35 As previously mentioned, the Greek culture was probably strengthened by migratory flows in Sicily and Calabria in the 10th century, resulting from Islamic invasions, famine, and economic crises. These flows helped bring one of the greatest exponents of Italian Greek monasticism to Rometta: the monk Saba (see also supra, n. 32).

36 Amari and Rizzitano 1997-1998, p. 449. The town of Castrogiovanni, in the middle of the island, was conquered by the Muslims in 859. Rometta (along with Taormina) did not fall until 902, over forty years after Enna, despite putting up a strong resistance. See Kislinger and Maurici 2015 and Maurici 1992.

37 Arcifa 2005; Arcifa 2011; Miano 2024.

38 Starting from the coast, the royal way followed the Saponara stream. It passed through Rometta before descending to Dinnamare and reaching Tremestieri on the Ionian coast: Todesco 2008; Patti 2017, pp. 180-182 and 198, n. 50.

39 The Rationes Decimarum from 1308 to 1310 mention the land (the fortified settlement within the walls) and the farmhouse of Rometta. These are probably to be identified with the suburban settlement located on the sunnier west side of the ridge near the San Giovanni District.

40 Scibona 2017.

41 This chronology is confirmed by Scibona’s excavation of the necropolis, which allows the construction of the building’s narthex to be dated back further.

42 Atik Mustafà Giamì of Constantinople (5th century), church of the Virgin Diaconissa (598), and Saint Theodosia (or Gul Giamì 9th century); see Lojacono 1940 and Giglio 2003.

43 Imbesi 2021, p. 247.

44 Imbesi 2021, p. 248

45 Imbesi 2021, p. 257.

46 Krautheimer 1986, p. 271.

47 Like many other buildings in the Alcantara Valley, the church is part of a group of structures known as ‘cubes’, whose purpose (monastic or rural churches?) and date of construction (8th-11th centuries) remain uncertain (Giglio 2003 and 2013).

48 Zagari 2016; Walker 2007.

49 Pirri 1733, p. 495 and Starrabba 1893, p. 46: omnes autem ecclesias civitates, et castella cum vicis, et villulis fuis, quae infra hos terminos continentur jure Episcopali jurisdictione that is the civitates of Messina, Rometta, Milazzo, Taormina, Sinagra, Naso, San Marco, Gagliano, Sperlinga, Troina, Mistretta, Tusa, Geraci, Petralia, Polizzi, Cefalù, Collesano, Caltavuturo, Sclafani.

50 Longo 2011.

51 Arcifa 2019 and Arcifa and Sgarlata 2020.

52 Metcalfe 2002; Mougoyianni 2018; Molinari 2019.

53 Arcifa and Messina 2024, p. 310.

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Table des illustrations

Titre Figure 1. Rometta’s location
Crédits Background map: Consortium of Ancient World Mappers, CC BY 4.0
URL http://journals.openedition.org/frontieres/docannexe/image/4432/img-1.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 331k
Titre Figure 2. Rometta’s natural fortress, as seen on Google Earth
Crédits Credit: Data SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO; image Airbus
URL http://journals.openedition.org/frontieres/docannexe/image/4432/img-2.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 796k
Titre Figure 3. The location of Rometta, Messina and Saponara
Crédits Credit: Landsat / Copernicus; Airbus
URL http://journals.openedition.org/frontieres/docannexe/image/4432/img-3.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 863k
Titre Figure 4. The church of Santa Maria dei Cerei
Crédits Credit: Wikimedia Commons, Davide Mauro, CC BY-SA 4.0
URL http://journals.openedition.org/frontieres/docannexe/image/4432/img-4.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 963k
Titre Figure 5. The Sotto Castello District. Rock church chapel
Crédits Credit: Images and plan A. Zappani, the FIRB Project, based on 3D Survey
URL http://journals.openedition.org/frontieres/docannexe/image/4432/img-5.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 618k
Titre Figure 6. The Sotto Castello District. Rock church chapel
Légende 1. Photogrammetry. 2.‑3. 3D shading 4.‑5. Crosses carved on the wall
URL http://journals.openedition.org/frontieres/docannexe/image/4432/img-6.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 855k
Titre Figure 7. The Sotto Castello District. Plan and photograph of the Basilica
Légende The plan was created using a mesh from a 3D survey
Crédits Credit: A. Zappani, the FIRB project
URL http://journals.openedition.org/frontieres/docannexe/image/4432/img-7.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 782k
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Daniela Patti, « Christianity at the Frontiers. The Case of Rometta (Sicily) »Frontière·s [En ligne], Supplément 3 | 2025, mis en ligne le 17 juillet 2025, consulté le 06 juin 2026. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/frontieres/4432 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/14dyl

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Auteur

Daniela Patti

Associate Professor of Christian, Late Antique and Medieval Archaeology, Università Kore di Enna

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