San Benedetto di Norcia consegna la Regula a san Mauro: un’immagine profetica e politica per la Fontana maggiore di Perugia

This article illustrates the relevance, for the Benedictine iconography of the 13th century, of the sculpture depicting Saint Benedict of Norcia handing over the book of the Rule to Saint Maurus, who is about to leave for Gaul (France), from where he will guarantee the spread of European monasticism. The sculpture was created by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano for the Fontana Maggiore in Perugia (1278). The fountain and its plastic decoration were designed to symbolize the identity and pride of Perugia, representing the civic self-awareness of a flourishing present and a thousand-year-old past.