CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA ASSUNTA

HISTORICAL NOTES AND DESCRIPTION

There is no precise information on the construction of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta, but we know with certainty that it was consecrated in 1533 by the bishop of Bagnoregio, Monsignor Pastorelli. Consultation of the “Book of Councils” proved invaluable in learning about the restoration and maintenance work on the building: the bell tower was renovated in 1458 and in 1474 work was done on the “divae Mariae walls”, commissions carried out by Lombard workers. It follows an existing building already before the fifteenth century. The Church is located within the first circle of walls and is the oldest in the country. It has a gabled façade, with a Gothic flowered rose window and two windows at the top, the Marian coat of arms surmounted by a crown, and the entrance portal raised above the floor, surrounded by fluted jambs and architraves.

The church has a second Gothic style lateral access portal, surmounted by a richly decorated tympanum. This triangular-shaped portal with lobed outlines ending in volutes, has a notched cusp at the top with a cross at the top. On the last two volutes on the left of the cusp, a star and a clover are strangely imprinted. Immediately below is the symbol of the Eucharist inscribed in a circle with a twisted frame. The lunette, framed in a pointed arch, has a very deteriorated fresco with the Assumption of the Virgin lying on clouds and surrounded by cherubs cheering, from 1600. Next to it is one of the four single-lancet windows placed on the side walls of the church.

Adjacent to the portal is the quadrangular bell tower, divided into three levels by string courses, on which you can admire three orders of large windows: single-light windows on the lower level, mullioned windows on the second level, while on the last level there are three-light windows. All three orders of windows are characterized by the presence of trefoil arches resting on small peperino columns with quadrangular capitals. In 1458 the bell tower was restored by Lombard artists residing in Vitorchiano. On the right side of the church, below a staircase there is a fresco depicting a Madonna enthroned with the Child. The very deteriorated representation reveals some details which in the stylistic form refer to a fresco datable between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The church has a single nave with a trussed roof and a raised presbytery. The side walls are interrupted in length due to the presence of emerging sides on which the choir with the organ are placed on the right, while the pulpit on the left. On the counter-façade is a 16th century stem font, from the Viterbo area with the coats of arms of Vitorchiano and Rome at the base of the shaped stem. The circular cup is poded and with a deep groove that runs parallel to the edge with a semicircular section. In the center of the wall is an almost completely lost fresco depicting two unidentified saints, painted in the 14th century and attributed to Ilario da Viterbo. It belongs to a cycle of frescoes which was subsequently covered with the massive layer of plaster, currently visible along all the walls of the church.

Leaning against the wall is a peperino floor tombstone made up of three slabs, two of which dated 1583 and 1577. The tombstone is completely covered with sepulchral inscriptions, in Latin, in capital letters: DOM / ANDREAS BOC / CAMACARONI / HIC / IACET / ALEX BOCC / ET MARGARITA GRACCA / PARENE PP / NON AUG / MDLXXXIIII. D.O.M. LUCAS COLUTIA D VITUGNO / FUI NO / SUM ESTIS / NO ERITAS NIMO IMO / TALIS AN D / MDLXXVII / LUCRETIA VI / ORETMANI FILUIS EOR / HIC M POSUER.
On the first plate it is possible to distinguish, in the upper part, a ribbon coat of arms that frames the letters P.O.

On the right wall is a niche frescoed in the sixteenth century. of the Viterbo school, with the representation interpretable with the Transfiguration, given the difficulty of reading the pictorial passage due to its precarious conditions, which has inscriptions at the bottom, not completely legible. In the upper panel there is a fresco of the Incredulity of St. Thomas, a work from the Viterbo area and dating back to the 18th century, which depicts St. Thomas touching the stigmata of the Risen Christ, behind which is the figure of the Madonna. The statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was placed on the balustrade of the lunette with his right hand blessing, while with the other hand he points to his heart, in the center of his chest, surrounded by the crown of thorns.

Continuing towards the presbytery, it is possible to admire the processional machine in carved, gilded and silvered wood, dating back to the 17th-19th centuries, used for the transposition of the image of Maria SS. Assumed into Heaven, which takes place on August 14 each year. The image of the Virgin is placed on a wooden base that symbolizes a halo of clouds, next to which, on the scrolls of leaves, putti rise in different positions. In front of them and in the center of the machine at the bottom there are some candelabra. Above the scrolls support a large, richly worked crown on the top of which is a crucifix. At the center of the machine is a halo of rayed clouds. The processional machine of the Assumption was restored in 2006.

Still on the right wall is the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, dressed in white and with her hands folded in prayer, standing on the clouds and placed in a niche closed by a stained glass window.

As already mentioned on the emerging wall, which precedes the presbytery, there is the choir loft, in which the seventeenth-century organ of the church is inscribed in a round arch. The balustrade is richly decorated with geometric elements, while, further down, inscribed in three mirrors, there are as many trefoil arches. The structure is supported by an underlying arch and four buttresses that lean against pilasters against the wall. At the center of the arch is a bronze plate decorated in high relief.

The right side altar of the presbytery is from the seventeenth century and has two columns with a composite capital that support a broken tympanum, both with gilded outlines. Inside this opens a smooth mirror that ends at the bottom with scrolls. Between the columns of the altar and the pilasters of the arch in which it is inscribed, runs a frieze in peperino carved in relief with motifs of acanthus leaves. Above the niche, in which the 17th century statue is placed. of the Madonna del Suffragio, is a cartouche with an inscription in Latin: AUXILIUM / CHRISTIANORUM. Next to it is a dedicatory epigraph engraved on the wall that reads: LE FAMIGLIE / LACAGNINA_ACUNTO / DONANO / THIS ALTAR / TO GLORY OF JESUS ​​/ IN MEMORY OF THEIR DEAD / MOUNT VERNON NEW YORK / 04-24-1949.

The presbytery is raised and has the main altar in the center of the façade with the cuspidated tympanum, which echoes that of the side entrance, supported by columns covered with red velvet with large-leaved capitals. In the center of the trefoil arch inscribed in the cusp is an engraving “DEIPARAE ASSUMPTAE”. The table depicting the Virgin of the Assumption is placed on the altar. The Mother of Christ standing on the clouds is in prayer, and is surrounded on the sides by musician angels in a column. For the absence of proportions in the figure of the Madonna, for the representation of the angels in the column and for the presence of the gold background, the table can be ascribed to the 15th century. On the occasion of the decorations made in the Easter period, the statue of the Risen Christ is placed here, normally kept in the sacristy, with a white robe, the raised arm and the cross of the Resurrection. At the foot of the canvas is the tabernacle with the same features as the tympanum of the altar and the side entrance door, on the sides are the choir stalls. To the right of the main altar is the seventeenth-century canvas, from the Viterbo area, depicting St. Peter, with a warning attitude, covered with a long and draped mantle that covers it from the shoulder to the feet. He is in the front position and holds his right hand raised while with his left he holds a book and keys.

Below is the painted plaster statue of Saint Therese of Lisieux, placed to the right of the main altar on a pedestal covered with a mantle of roses. The Saint wears monastic robes and holds the crucifix and roses in her arms, her iconographic attributes.

To the left of the main altar, on the other hand, is the seventeenth-century canvas, from the Viterbo area, depicting St. Paul inexpressive and immobile despite the gesture of his left hand to raise the sword and the asymmetrical position of the legs. The Saint wears a green robe and is wrapped in a large and draped red cloak.

Below is the statue of St. Michael the Archangel in painted plaster, located to the left of the main altar. The Saint is in the act of killing the dragon with the sword, crushed under his feet. His left arm is raised to point to the sky, a sign of the victory of good over evil.

At the right end is a door in trompe-l’oeil, while on the left is the entrance to the sacristy surmounted by a bishop’s coat of arms. At the top, the façade has the same decorations as the balustrade of the choir.

The left side altar of the presbytery is from the seventeenth century and has two columns with a composite capital that support a broken tympanum, both with gilded outlines. Inside this opens a smooth mirror that ends at the bottom with scrolls. Between the columns of the altar and the pilasters of the arch in which it is inscribed, runs a frieze in peperino carved in relief with motifs of acanthus leaves. Specular to the right altar of the presbytery, it is in a poor state of conservation. In the center of the niche it keeps a Crucifix highlighted by a red cloth. It was created in 1590 by Joannes Parisiensis (Giovanni Parigino or from Paris), whose name was found on a scroll found inside the sculpture, together with the date of execution. Over time, the Crucifix has undergone a series of repaintings that a recent restoration (2009) has however eliminated, restoring the original beauty of the work.
On the emerging wall is the semicircular pulpit with smooth and articulated cornices, which in the lower part gradually slope down into a conical shape. The balustrade is divided into smooth panels; in the central one the sun is depicted in bas-relief. Attributable to the 14th century in the Viterbo area, it is the only example of an original architecture, while the rest of the church is completely redone in fake peperino.

On the left wall there is a trefoil niche, supported by small columns with large-leaved capitals. Inside is the 15th century fresco. attributed to the Master of Corchiano, a pupil of Lorenzo da Viterbo, depicting San Lorenzo and, probably, Santa Margherita. S Lorenzo is dressed in red dalmatic and golden yellow lapels. He holds the palm of martyrdom in the left and the grill in the right. Next to him, on the right, is her Saint, also with the palm of martyrdom, with brown hair tied behind her neck and very attached to her head. She and she is dressed in a brown tunic and long red cloak with yellow-gold lapels. Above are frescoed scrolls, ribbons and feathered wings.

In front of the niche is the plaster statue of Saint Anthony of Padua, which was donated, as can be seen from the inscription on the base: FOR GRACE EXAUDED LAN. D MESSINA PUGLISI CONCETTA OFFERS THE CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA IN VITORCHIANO.

Fresco depicting the Madonna enthroned with the Child holding her globe in her hands, attributable to the 16th century. The fresco has undergone a restoration which however did not respect the original colors, which must have been like those of the fresco depicting S. Lorenzo and Santa Margherita, and even more accentuated the physiognomic features, very close to the style of Antoniazzo Romano.

Baptismal font in carved peperino, the work of local stonemasons of the 16th century, placed on an octagonal base from which a circular and shaped shaft rises. The large cup is decorated with large vegetable spirals and is covered by a scaled cap surmounted by a small lantern with geometric interweaving and cherub heads.

Behind the baptismal font is a niche that opens into the wall with a very ruined fresco, from the 15th century, depicting St. Leonard, made in very dark colors that give the effect of monochrome. The saint is dressed in a tunic and dalmatic, has two stirrup cuffs in his hand and points to a prison railing.
On the counter-façade is a last fresco with the Crucifixion of Jesus, from the 14th century, from Tuscany. Behind the cross is the Eternal Father, whose shoulders are barely distinguishable, who has an eight-pointed halo. The Christ below is depicted in a very schematic way: he has his head tilted to the left, around which the nimbus is barely distinguishable. The straight line of the bust is broken by the high draped and adherent band.
The style of the figures has no parallel in all of Vitorchiano, and it is very likely that the intervention of Tuscan, and more particularly Sienese, workers, reinterpreted in a local key, but with many modules in common, is evident here.

Finally, in the sacristy there is the canvas depicting the Incredulity of St. Thomas from the Viterbo school. In the foreground, St. Thomas is depicted with one hand touching the stigmata of the Risen Christ with one hand, while in the background a crowd of people watch the scene. For the structural setting of the scene and for the stylistic details, it is possible to see a parallel with the Incredulity of St. Thomas painted by Salvator Rosa in the church of the Oration and Death of Viterbo in 1636-37.

ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aleandri V.E., Lombard artists and craftsmen in Vitorchiano in the 15th and 16th centuries, 1911.

D’Arcangeli V., Vitorchiano, in “Tuscia Viterbese. I Comuni “, vol II, 1968, pp. 473-476.

Vitorchiano, the past present, edition edited by Fiorenzo Mascagna, historical research by Elide Vagnozzi, Stampa Arti Grafiche Artigiane 2005.

Picket F. – Pedrocchi A. M, file OA n. 12/00095434, 1977

Picket F. – Pedrocchi A. M, file OA n. 12/00095435, 1977.

Picket F. – Pedrocchi A. M, file OA n. 12/00095448 B, 1977.

Picket F. – Pedrocchi A. M, file OA n. 12/00095349, 1977.

Picket F. – Pedrocchi A. M, file OA n. 12/00095355, 1977.

Picket F. – Pedrocchi A. M, file OA n. 12/00095357, 1977.

Picket F. – Pedrocchi A. M, file OA n. 12/00095358, 1977.

Picket F. – Pedrocchi A. M, file OA n. 12/00095360, 1977.

Picket F. – Pedrocchi A. M, file OA n. 12/00095363, 1977.

Picket F. – Pedrocchi A. M, file OA n. 12/00095364, 1977.

Picket F. – Pedrocchi A. M, file OA n. 12/00095367, 1977.

Picket F. – Pedrocchi A. M, file OA n. 12/00095370, 1977.

Picket F. – Pedrocchi A. M, file OA n. 12/00095371, 1977.

Picket F. – Pedrocchi A. M, file OA n. 12/00095372, 1977.

Picket F. – Pedrocchi A. M, file OA n. 12/00095373, 1977.

Picket F. – Pedrocchi A. M, file OA n. 12/00095374, 1977.

Picket F. – Pedrocchi A. M, file OA n. 12/00095375, 1977.

Pietroni E., OA file in Varie Vitorchiano, 1994.

Pietroni E., OA file in Varie Vitorchiano, 1995.

A special thanks to dr. Andrea Presutti for scientific advice and archival photographic material provided on Vitorchiano:

– Facebook page of Andrea Presutti  Archive photographic material provided on Vitorchiano.

– Vitorchiano com’era Facebook page for collecting old photos of the beautiful village of Vitorchiano, in the province of Viterbo. Images of the country, its inhabitants and its traditions.