n Italy the Norman influence concerns all of southern Italy, from Sicily all the way up to the State of the Pontifice south of Rome. The architectonic patrimony of churches, abbeys, strongholds, and princely residences is rich with numerous monuments that were erected at the end of the 11^th century and well into the 12^th century.

From this period the abundance of remaining texts give way to a concise chronology of these aforementioned monuments, a chronology that would be unthinkable in northwestern Europe. These documents, both the ones that arrived in their original state and the ones that arrived after various transformations, present a remarkable homogeneity of style that confers on them a particular place in Norman Europe.

Even if all of southern Italy is representative of this patrimony, two regions require particular attention: Molise and Sicily. Sicily is the heart of the Norman Empire, the center from which the Norman kings exercised their power, but also the place in which the process towards the syncretism of Byzantine, Arab, and Norman influence was put into practice and solidified: “the first state that was a work of art” as the great writer Benedetto Croce said. Molise is less known to the public, but its border and geographical position gives it a particular identity and a historically singular role.

Rich of castles and other defensive structures reasonably well preserved, Molise is a province that offers unsuspected possibilities for study and research. In Molise the Norman influence on the religious architecture is counterbalanced by the always-popular attraction of the prestigious Monastery of Monte Cassino.

The monuments of Sicily and of Molise must be considered, along with the ones of Campania, Apulia, and Calabria; keeping in mind this prospective one can best measure the originality of every province of the Norman Kingdom