William Tronzo, Naples in the Early Middle Ages

Italica Press is pleased to announce the publication of William Tronzo’s “Art History: Naples in the Early Middle Ages,” chapter 10 of Medieval Naples: A Documentary History, 400-1400 in Italica Press’s series, A Documentary History of Naples. Tronzo, an internationally known scholar of late ancient and early medieval art history, brings his expertise and elegant style to bear on the city’s transition from ancient Greco-Roman town to medieval capital, reviewing the development of its urban fabric and chief monuments, including the catacombs, Sta. Restituta, the baptistry of S. Giovanni in Fonte, the forum area, including S. Paolo Maggiore and the early history of S. Lorenzo Maggiore, and the Pietrasanta. 
This chapter is available as a cross-searchable, downloadable PDF document, full of color and B&W images, plans and digital reconstructions. It joins the chapter by Caroline Bruzelius on The High and Late Middle Ages to form a complete review of the art history of medieval Naples.

Chapters 2 and 3 Now Online

We’re pleased to inform our readers that the first selections in Chapters 2, Late Roman and Byzantine Naples and Chapter 3, Ducal Naples have now been launched online. Texts include the histories of Jordanes, Paul the Deacon, Procopius and the Liber Pontificalis; the Variae of Cassiodorus and Letters of Gregory I and selected archival documents.
Chapter 2 covers the period from 476 to the beginnings of the Duchy in 568. Chapter 3 picks up the narrative from 568 to the end of the Duchy in 1137.
Selections include hyperlinks to online archives and editions, bibliographical references, full-scale views of art, links to our Interactive Map of Medieval Naples and other chapters in the Documentary History.
These offerings are only the beginnings of these chapters. As we go along we’ll be adding further texts drawn from existing editions, and from our own translations of texts and archival documents. Thus far we have posted over 60 texts across all chapters of Medieval Naples, with over 100 illustrations, already making this the most extensive documentary selection in English for the history of medieval Naples.

Early Medieval Naples Now Forthcoming

We’re happy to announce that William Tronzo’s contribution to our Documentary History of Naples: Art History. Naples in the Early Middle Ages is now in final production and will be published soon.

William Tronzo is an internationally known scholar of late ancient and early medieval art history. He brings his expertise and elegant style to bear on the city’s transition from ancient Greco-Roman town to medieval capital, reviewing the development of its urban fabric and chief monuments, including the catacombs, Sta. Restituta, the baptistry of S. Giovanni in Fonte, and the Pietrasanta.
This chapter will soon be available as a cross-searchable, downloadable PDF document, full of color and B&W images, plans and digital reconstructions. It will then join the chapter by Caroline Bruzelius on the High and Late Middle Ages to form a complete print book on the art history of medieval Naples.

Caroline Bruzelius, Naples Art History, Is Published

We’re very pleased to announce the newest addition to our Naples: A Documentary History, 400–1400. Caroline Bruzelius’ Art History: Naples in the High and Late Middle Ages is the first comprehensive review of the city’s architecture, art and urban development in the high and late Middle Ages in English since the author’s The Stones of Naples.

Clearly and concisely written, it is an ideal introductory survey for the scholar, student and general reader. This downloadable, interactive e-book is fully searchable and can be navigated with the standard Adobe Acrobat interface: page by page, through an interactive table of contents or via bookmarks. It offers dozens of illustrations — maps, plans, elevations, drawings, color and black & white photos — that can be viewed at any number of screen resolutions. The work provides hyperlinks to web-based photo galleries of all the major monuments, to many documents cited in the text, and a complete — and free — downloadable Bibliography.

Napoli: Atlante della Città Storica

One of the best finds in our research trips to Naples has been Italo Ferraro’s six-volume Napoli: Atlante della Città Storica (Naples: Clean, Oikos, 2002-).

Each of these hefty volumes takes on a different section of the city, moving rione by rione through the architecture and arts, urban fabric and history of the city with gorgeous color and black and white images, maps and street plans, elevations and axonometric projections of city blocks and individual buildings and complexes. The format is large, the design and layout elegant, and the information authoritative and up-to-date. Ferraro and his colleagues offer a wealth of detail, bibliographical citation and fine indexes.

We came across a copy of the first volume several years ago at the Port’Alba book stalls. It was a real steal and we lugged it home in our baggage. Subsequent volumes have been a bit more pricey (140-180 Euros), but well worth the investment.

Next time you're at Port’Alba look for some bargain copies (and if there are extras, do let us know!)