Abstract. Back-arc extension superimposed on mountain belts leads to distributed normal faults and shear zones, interacting with magma emplacement in the crust. The composition of granitic magmas emplaced at this stage often involves a component of crustal melting. The Miocene Aegean granitoids were emplaced in metamorphic core complexes (MCC) below crustal-scale low-angle extensional shear zones and normal faults. Intrusion in such contexts interacts with extension and shear along detachments, from the hot magmatic flow within the pluton root zone to the colder ductile and brittle deformation along the detachment. A comparison of the Aegean plutons with the Elba Island MCC in the back-arc region of the Apennines subduction shows that these processes are characteristic of pluton-detachment interactions in general and we discuss a conceptual emplacement scenario, tested by numerical models. Mafic injections within the partially molten lower crust above the hot asthenosphere trigger the ascent within the core of the MCC of felsic magmas, controlled by the strain localization on persistent crustal scale shear zones at the top that guide the ascent until the brittle ductile transition is reached during exhumation. Once the system definitely enters the brittle regime, the detachment and the upper crust are intruded while new detachments migrate upward and in the direction of shearing. Numerical models reproduce the geometry and the kinematic evolution deduced from field observations.