"L'Aquila, magnifica citade": Fashioning a Center of Franciscan Observance in the Abruzzo Region

Abstract

As one of the crucial protagonists of the Franciscan reform movement and the first Observant friar to be canonised, Bernardino of Siena was an ideal figurehead to promote this Franciscan branch's legitimacy. His sudden death in 1444 brought the central Italian city of L'Aquila – the second most important center in the Kingdom of Naples – into the possession of his remains. This article sheds light on the Franciscan Observants' contribution to the pietas civica of L'Aquila with Bernardino and his cult as its focal point during the second half of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century. The promotion and planning of the burial church and convent of San Bernardino as well as the construction of a lavish tomb monument for the saint are examples for the integration of mendicant convents into the religious topography of a city. We shall present some instances of the Observants' participation in discourses on civic values related to the studia humanitatis. For example, the concept of magnificenza was introduced to foster the building project of San Bernardino, a complex that became pivotal for L'Aquila's civic cultural identity as well as for the brethren's attempt to fashion the city into a second centre of Franciscanism alongside Assisi.