Domestic Religion and Connected Spaces: Isabella della Rovere, Princess of Bisignano (1552–1619)

The concept of ‘domestic religion’ is certainly rich in interpretative potential; for example, it is useful in overcoming the restrictions inherent in the term ‘civic religion’, focussed as this is on the space and time of rituals and of religious festivity and collective devotional fervour.¹ It also avoids dichotomies such as high/low, noble/popular, or theory/practice, as well as many other fetters and impediments which have hindered scholars in approaching the idea of ‘popular religion’. We can add this to Giuseppe Galasso’s lucid interpretation of popular religion, which sidesteps sociology and class to define it as something simple, elemental and traditional