Segni dell’architettura antica sul Gran Monastero di S. Giovanni di Pantelleria

Abstract

In the Middle Ages, the island of Pantelleria was the southernmost frontier of the Christian empire, and it had been chosen by a hermit called Giovanni as the right place where to lead a penitential life. A steep hill rose from the sea to an extinct volcanic crater where he found a cave in what had become a typical Pantelleria garden. With another monk called Basilio, there he founded a monastery where the Rule of St John was written, the one that was later adopted in Russia. The author has researched the place, matching the physical characteristics of the path from the sea to the crater and evidence found on the rocks and among the stones of dammusi (girna-like habitable constructions) with readings of the Carolingian Chronicles dating to 803 (discovered by Henri Bresc) and the Tipiko of St John (Dujčev 1971), following the aerial method of Braudel which combines historical and geographical evidence to identify the ancient monastery.