La Santa Croce dei Lucchesi a Genova: l’immagine di un Volto Santo perduto
Clario Di Fabio
This paper deals with the spread of the cult of the Volto Santo in Genoa, within the community of Lucchese silk weavers, which from the 13th century had Santa Croce di Sarzano as its own “national church”. In particular, it aims to ascertain the peculiar iconografic features of the wooden crucifix first venerated there and then moved to the nearby, bigger church of Santa Tecla/Sant’Agostino, in a chapel set up in the 16th century. According to some textual and graphic documents, we may now affirm that it was a faithful (but how ancient?) copy of the tunicate crucifix, well known as the Volto Santo, still preserved in the Cathedral of Lucca.