In the nineteenth century, the positivist school wanted to recognize which element in the use of Romanesque vaulted roof, and in particular the cross vaults, simplification perhaps' forced by the wish to see a linear art altomedievale and Gothic art, which does not fully correspond to reality. While, in fact, important buildings of Romanesque architecture such as the Duomo di Modena or San Miniato al Monte in Florence or the abbey church of Saint-Étienne in Caen were initially covered with trusses, only later replaced by times, by ' other hand the use of vaults, although on smaller areas, was already present from the beginning of the eleventh century in German and Lombard area, as in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Lomello.

The vaults were still one of the factors that enabled the realization of the great Romanesque buildings. Formed by crossing two diagonal arches, had the undoubted advantage over the vaults of conveying the weight rather than along the line of duty, only the four corner support, simplifying the need for controspinte (four points were more controllable because of two lines) and by reducing the effort on the walls, which can then be more slender in height or even pierced by several openings.