Storia delle religioni e spazio sacro. Note sui luoghi di culto della tarda antichità e del medioevo

The chapter explores the relationship between sacred space, landscape, and religious practices in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, emphasizing that places of worship are not merely physical structures but cultural products shaped by human interaction, memory, and ritual. Drawing on perspectives from archaeology, anthropology, and the history of religions, it argues that landscapes should be understood as dynamic "palimpsests" in which natural and human elements continuously interact, while sacred places often display remarkable continuity despite changes in religious traditions. Sacredness is therefore presented not as an intrinsic quality of a location, but as the result of symbolic, social, and ritual processes that construct and preserve its significance over time. The Gargano promontory in southern Italy serves as the principal case study, illustrating how a dense network of sanctuaries, monasteries, hermitages, rural churches, and pilgrimage routes created a distinctive sacred landscape from Late Antiquity onward. Particular attention is devoted to the Sanctuary of Saint Michael, the Abbey and Sanctuary of Saint Matthew, and the so-called Hermitage of Saint Nicholas, whose archaeological and historical evidence reveals the close relationship between religious institutions, pilgrimage, territorial organization, and local communities. The study demonstrates how these sacred sites functioned as interconnected nodes within broader devotional networks, shaping both the cultural identity and the historical development of the region. Ultimately, the chapter advocates an integrated, landscape-based approach that combines archaeological, textual, topographical, and anthropological evidence to better understand the long-term evolution of sacred spaces and their enduring role in the construction of collective memory and territorial identity.