Rinascimento di traduzione nel Salento. La riscoperta del fonte battesimale Di Capua - Arcamone nel Museo Diocesano di Otranto

Little mention of the ancient Baptisterium in the Cathedral of Otranto is found in primary sources or critical literature. This refined figurative text, done in the 16th century but still medieval in conception, was commissioned by the couple Di Capua and Arcamone to an artist connected with Gabriele Riccardi as a precious gift for their second son, Pietro Antonio, who became archbishop of Otranto in 1536. A highly cultured dissident, Pietro Antonio Di Capua was a «follower of Valdés from the first hour» (Firpo), an ‘original sin’ that weighed on the whole of his long career in the priesthood. The present contribution, shared as an introduction to a forthcoming study, offers the reader a reconstruction of the history and critical fortune of this baptismal font, especially as regards its patronage and the iconographic and iconological importance of its decorations.