116 Marazzi
them.48 Nevertheless, it is impressive how quickly he brought to completion the
works he had planned, including an extremely elaborate construction, the tet-
raconch church of San Leucio—the architecture of which finds parallels in
a number of similar buildings in the eastern Mediterranean (between Syria,
Greece, and Macedonia) and is comparable to the Milanese church of Saint
Lawrence built at the end of the 4th century under imperial patronage.49
Although gifted with a charismatic personality that may have helped him gain
widespread support for his endeavours, it should be remembered that Sabinus
was still the bishop of a middling town of southern Italy, something that makes
his achievements even more remarkable.
Evidence for building programmes undertaken by local churches indicates
that despite a prolonged process of economic transformation a good deal of
resources remained that could be invested in urban environment. Of course
these resources now rested in hands quite different in social and cultural terms
from those that had contributed to the classical foundation of many Italian cit-
ies. Much had changed by the 6th century and the stage was now occupied by
actors whose influence on the urban scene depended on power derived from
sources outside the traditional dynamics of municipal institutions.
The so-called ‘Indian summer’ of Theoderic’s reign lasted too short (the
span of barely two generations) to allow the full fruition of some aspects of
urban development outlined in these pages. It is impossible to say whether
in the long term Gothic aristocrats would have played a more active role in
urban life and whether they would have conformed to late Roman customs
in the patronage of urban buildings, spaces, and churches. As previously men-
tioned, there is little evidence for their interaction with cities and this could
contribute to notions that they might not have been deeply interested in urban
activities. However, it is clear that the central government actively urged local
communities to maintain and improve cities. Much of what can be read, for
example, in Cassiodorus’ letters can be interpreted as propaganda when com-
pared with the archaeological record of many Italian cities at the dawn of
the 6th century. Then again, it is difficult to say what the results would have
been had the Ostrogoths had more time to consolidate their position before
the showdown with the eastern empire. What is true is that when Justinian
ordered that public buildings of Rome should be repaired and maintained in
554 with his Pragmatic Sanction (section 25) he referred to damage done not by
48 Giuliani, “Modificazioni dei quadri urbani”, pp. 129–66; Giuliani/Leone/Volpe, “L’area
sacra di San Giovanni”, pp. 731–42.
49 Krautheimer, Three Christian Capitals, pp. 129–48; D’Alessio/Gallocchio/Manganelli/
Pensabene, “La basilica di San Leucio”, pp. 677–85.