Keywords

• The capitals of the cloister of Santa Maria degli Angeli of Baida
• made at the end of the fourteenth century
• are a true replica of those carved for the cloister of the cathedral of Monreale two centuries earlier. In order to understand why such imitation
• the present study investigates the reasons that pushed Manfredi III Chiaromonte to finance the construction of the Benedictine monastery.
• The new building was intended to openly show his power through a visual discourse with clear references to the Norman monarchy. The iconography of the only capital that does not imitate the prototypes of Monreale would refer to the liturgical song Dies Irae: Manfredi
• close to the decline of his power
• writes the last act of his earthly life by requiring the construction of a «copy» of the cathedral in Monreale
• including a prayer pro animae suae salute