«Sei fatta spettatrice di quella tragica insegna»: i sacri monti prealpini tra immagine, diceria e allegoria

The use of allegory in the context of the sacred narrative in the Pre-Alpine Sacri Monti is a theme that still awaits a systematic survey and that is inevitably linked to the purposes and communication tools that are implemented within each chapel. So the Sacred Mountains can be interpreted as an expression of a stratification of images and meanings. As part of a reflection on the theme of the sacred allegories, the figurative and symbolic laboratory of the Sacri Monti gave a deep contribution, which Giovan Battista Marino also noticed in his Dicerie (1618): «questi monti alpini» with their astonishing imagery and vivid narrative present multiple reading levels and communication systems. About these aspects the paper provides a first analysis of significant examples.