L’architettura dei Mendicanti nel Trecento: l’abside poligonale nei cantieri domenicani nel nord Italia

The architecture of Mendicants in XIV century: the polygonal apsis in the construction sites of friars Preacher in northern Italy The construction history of XIV century is strongly dominated by friars Minor and Preachers’ architecture. In the complex and heterogeneous panorama that emerged between the end of the XIII century and the beginning of the XIV century, in particular the architecture of churches shows constructive choices of great interest, testifying architectural solutions that can be considered representative of XIV century mendicant architecture. In addition to the insertion of chapels and altars inside and outside the religious buildings, to the endowment (in the few construction sites that reached completion) of monumental façades adorned with rich decorative apparatuses, the contribution focuses specifically on the study of the polygonal apse introduced at the end of the body of the churches, which characterizes the buildings of Preachers in northern Italy. The essay investigates the diffusion of this architectural model in the territories of the north-east and north-west of the peninsula, until 1303 included in the united province of Lombardy.