Castiglia, GianfrancoPerrelli, RaffaeleVaccaro, Attilio2025-10-312025-05-07https://lisa.unical.it/handle/10955/5648Dottorato di ricerca in Studi umanistici, Ciclo XXXVII, a.a. 2024-2025This doctoral thesis aims to investigate the religious, economic and political peculiarities of some monastic settlements that arose between the 11th and 15th centuries, in the area of the current Pollino National Park. The study of the historical-archaeological evidences naturally also took into account the broader Calabrian territorial context and the historical events that characterized it. On the Pollino heights, and in particular on the Orsomarso Mountains, there is an interesting settlement evolution which corresponded to profound changes in the local political and religious institutions. Therefore, the objective of this doctoral thesis is to understand the role that both secular and ecclesiastical feudalism had in the historical, religious and political evolution of monastic settlements. Furthermore, I attempted to observe, thanks to the help of fiscal, administrative, documentary sources etc., the legal, economic and social relationships that existed between the feudal lords and the monks. Among the documentary, administrative and fiscal sources used during the research, the foundation diplomas of the monasteries, the pontifical documents, the audiences, the archival sources and the bibliographies were of capital importance. Hagiographic and documentary sources have revealed that Byzantine monks shaped the natural landscape and influenced local social and economic dynamics, contributing to the formation of lasting cenobitic communities. Another element of particular interest is the exploitation of rock salt mines, fulling mills and mills by Cistercian monks. The numerous assignments of large lands, even very far from the monastic settlements, are proof that the right to graze was particularly appreciated by the monks, when stipulating the donations made by the lay feudal lords. All these elements allow us to recognize the lasting influence of Santa Maria de Fontibus in Lungro and Sancta Maria de Sancto Leucio in Acquaformosa over the territory of Pollino and the Orsomarso Mountains. Furthermore, these settlements have left an important imprint on the historical and cultural context of northern Calabria, as the two monastic foundations were also real agents of social and territorial transformation.itMpnasteriAbbazieCistercensiPollinoThesis