Marmi in viaggio. Pietre da costruzione e altari policromi nel Duomo di Pavia nel Seicento (con una nota sul ruolo dello scultore-impresario)

In the 17th century, the construction site of the Pavia cathedral was struggling to pick up building activity and undertake internal decoration, following a program that was to see its first stage of completion in the great octagon only in the following century. The need to guarantee the stone cladding of the supporting pillars of the octagon and the surrounding walls, both internal and external, once again posed the problem of the supply of materials. This paper investigates the choices of the “fabbriceria”, the role of workers and contractors between quarries in Val d’Ossola and Carrara, with special attention to the setting up of the three altars commissioned in the first half of the 17th century from Tomaso Orsolino, a sculptor from the Intelvi Valley with his workshop in Genoa.