In the European context, the reception of Gothic architecture featured unique characteristics in Italy.
In the European context, the reception of Gothic architecture featured unique characteristics in Italy.  Before the Angevine conquest in 1268, which led to a kind of “Frenchification” of the kingdom of Naples, the reinterpretation of transalpine models was the most pronounced in Southern Latium beginning in the late twelfth century, as demonstrated by Fossanova and Casamari Abbeys. A leading role was assumed by Cistercians, who promoted building techniques from France that were then adapted to the local context. The French Gothic spread especially in Italy during the second half of the of the thirteenth century thanks to the mendicant orders (S. Maria Novella, S. Croce in Florence), although the results were less audacious than the Rayonnant Gothic that developed in France during the reign of Louis IX (1226-1270). Builders north of the Alps had learned that a building’s walls could be replaced by glass windows without compromising stability (Sainte-Denis starting in 1231; Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, 1241-1248; transept of Notre Dame, 1258-1270), but this knowledge did not translate successfully to Italy, where seismic activity prevented the widespread use of flying buttresses, and narrow and vertical structures in particular.