Una croce astile romanica in Valsesia

The article examines an unpublished medieval brass processional cross preserved in Valsesia (Piedmont), recently recognized in studies and analysis on the production of goldsmithery and metals of medieval age in North-Western Italy. This artifact represents the only case of a Romanesque processional cross in the whole of Piedmont, with the exception of another cross preserved in Turin, perhaps coming from the antiques market. After a premise on the status quaestionis emerging from the main studies, also of Italian area, on medieval processional crosses, and Romanesque in particular, the article analyzes the artefact, describing the metric and formal data and reporting on the state of conservation, the peculiarities of execution and technique, also providing updated data on the composition of the metal alloy. Afterwards, some parameters are set, in order to look for possible comparisons, useful to establish approximate chronological and geographical references for the artefact. Excluding any possible reference to similar Italian processional crosses, the study identifies the most convincing comparisons in a group of artefacts from the Germanic area, specifically from Lower Saxony (Nieder Sachsen), dating between the second half and the end of the 12th Century. Having established such link, which appears quite clear, it can therefore be assumed that the cross may be connected to the presence in Valsesia of the Walser community, of German origin and already settled in the region in the 12th and 13 th Centuries, and to its continuous contacts with the motherland, starting as early as the Middle Ages, but possibly also in a later period.