CHURCH OF SANT’ANTONIO DA PADOVA

HISTORICAL NOTES AND DESCRIPTION

On the origin of the Church of Sant’Antonio da Padova in Vitorchiano it is known that the construction took place in 1793, the year in which the adjacent Franciscan convent was also built.

The church is located outside the city, in a place called “Il Conventino”, at a distance of 600 m from the historic center. It has a Renaissance style facade, rebuilt in a later period since the difference with the side walls of the church is evident, characterized by a pronaos with three round arches, interspersed with pilasters with molded capitals, which support an architrave. The same geometry is repeated in the upper section of the pronaos surmounted by three sculptural elements with a conical base that culminate in a sphere. Higher up is the molded triangular pediment surmounted by a metal cross. The entrance portal is surrounded by fluted jambs and architrave, surmounted by a fluted pediment.

The interior has a single nave with a barrel vault. The walls are characterized by altars inserted within arches, alternating with pilasters with composite capitals. Banded pillars, on the other hand, underline the access to the presbytery, which presents in a central position the nineteenth-century high altar consisting of a richly worked aedicule in marble and stucco, with a painting in the center depicting St. Francis who adores the cross and St. Anthony in ecstasy at the foot of the Madonna.

As soon as you enter the church on the right you will find the painted plaster statue of St. Anthony of Padua. The Saint has his left arm half raised and his blessing hand turned towards the Child, standing on the book supported by the Saint with the other hand. The statue is inserted in a niche with a blue frame and gilded decorations, depicting the lily. At the top a cartouche, part of the same frame, shows the name ANTONIO.

After the confessional on the right, in the first altar, in a rectangular niche with large-leaved capitals, architrave and decorated tympanum, there is a Crucifix, under which there is a stucco altar table, with a mixtilinear mirror in the center and a round with a coat of arms. The arch has an intrados and side walls with decorated internal outlines and plumes characterized by a triangle with red borders.

Walking along the nave towards the altar on the right, between one pilaster and the other, placed in a painted rectangular mirror that runs along the entire wall, there is a canvas depicting the Holy Family with St. John and St. Catherine of the sixteenth century. In the background a column and a rocky landscape. The painting is a late Mannerist work by a Roman painter, who however underwent heavy repainting in the 18th – 19th century.

The second altar on the right preserves, in a rectangular niche, with large masonry frames, the statue of St. Joseph with the Child, from Lecce and made of papier-mâché in the nineteenth century. Two stucco angels, with gilded bands, are seated on the lintel, while holding the Eucharistic coat of arms. At the bottom of the spirals converge towards the center of the architrave where there is a winged cherub face. The altar table has a mixtilinear mirror in the center and a tondo with a coat of arms. The arch has an intrados and side walls with decorated internal outlines and plumes characterized by a triangle with red borders.

Walking along the nave, on the right, between the last pilaster and the band pillar that precedes the presbytery, a funerary plaque in polychrome marble is placed in a painted rectangular mirror that runs along the entire wall. It is surmounted by a white marble frieze decorated with scrolls on which a cross is placed. In the center of the slab, the symbol of Christ is engraved at the top while the epigraph, with a dedication, to Don Domenico and Nazareno Aquilanti is engraved at the bottom.

In correspondence with the band pillar on the right, there is a papier-mâché crucifix, placed on an axis and visible in the round. The Christ with the head tilted on the right shoulder, wears a brown loincloth.

The presbytery, as already mentioned, presents in the center the nineteenth-century high altar of seventeenth-century inspiration, consisting of an aedicule with two supporting pillars, flanked by stucco columns with Corinthian capitals, which support an entablature with embellished platband, surmounted by a tympanum triangular notched, also embellished, with a cross at the top. The canvas in the center, from the 19th century and from the Viterbo area, depicts St. Francis who adores the Cross and St. Anthony in ecstasy at the feet of the Immaculate Virgin, who, subduing the serpent, is ascending to heaven surrounded by a halo of light. The painting is inserted into a special compartment embedded in the original wooden frame and frame, decorated at the bottom and side with polychrome geometric motifs, as well as richly decorated is the architrave and pediment.

At the base is an altar with a mixtilinear mirror in the center and a tondo with a coat of arms, on which there is a 19th century tabernacle, from the Viterbo area, with an octagonal plan, in two orders, surmounted by a painted octagonal Turkish dome.

Behind the main altar, in the center of the room, there is a lectern which had the function of supporting large books used for singing by the Franciscan friars. Leaning against the walls are the choir stalls, in wood, from the 19th century in the Viterbo area, and some canvases.

On the back wall of the presbytery there is the canvas depicting San Carlo Borromeo, clearly visible in his cardinal’s robes, San Francesco and Fra Jacopone with cherubs in the background. The canvas in non-optimal conditions can be dated to the XVII century made in the Viterbo area.

Behind the main altar is the canvas depicting St. Bonaventure, from the Viterbo area attributable to the nineteenth century. the Saint, standing in cardinal’s robes, is surprised by an angel who comes from above, surrounded by light, with a monstrance in his hands, while he is writing his biography on St. Francis of Assisi. Next to him a Franciscan friar on his knees attends the miracle in prayer. On the left, above, cherubs observe the Eucharist.

Finally, on the left wall is the canvas depicting the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan River, attributable to the 19th century and from the Viterbo area. In the foreground is St. John the Baptist wearing skin, a red robe and the crucifix in his left hand, in the act of baptizing Jesus immersed in the waters of the Jordan with a blue robe. Behind them a child kneeling in prayer watches the scene. Above, the dove of the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus.

Proceeding towards the entrance, on the left wall, between the band pillar that precedes the presbytery and the last pilaster, a polychrome marble epigraph is placed in a painted rectangular mirror that runs along the entire wall. It is surmounted by a pediment embellished in white marble decorated at the top with a face inscribed in a tondo. In the center is the dedicatory inscription which has a noble coat of arms at the bottom.

Continuing, on a pilaster, there is a funerary epigraph in marble with a mixed-line frame, with the photo of the deceased at the top and the dedication of the family members at the bottom in the center of the epigraph.

The first altar on the left wall contains, within an arch mirroring that of the opposite wall, the icon of the Madonna, a painting of a post-Marathon environment, from the Roman school close to Masucci of the 18th century, inscribed in a golden oval. A circle of white ceramic cherubs applied on a gilded stucco radial frame the picture.The altar has large masonry squares, while in the center a circle of white ceramic cherubs applied on a gilded stucco radial frames the Square. Two angels, with golden bands, are seated on the lintel, while they hold the coat of arms with the Marian symbol. At the bottom of the spirals converge towards the center of the architrave where there is a winged cherub face. The altar table has a mixtilinear mirror in the center and a tondo with a coat of arms. The arch has an intrados and side walls with decorated internal outlines and plumes characterized by a triangle with red borders.

Continuing further, between one pilaster and another, placed in a painted rectangular mirror that runs along the entire wall, is a canvas depicting St. Francis of Assisi receiving the stigmata, from the seventeenth century, from the Viterbo area. Very essential in the conception, the meaning of the work lies entirely in the expressive intensity of the Saint.

The second altar, with large-leaved capitals, architrave and decorated tympanum, is characterized by a rectangular niche, which houses the statue of Our Lady of Fatima. The arch has an intrados and side walls with decorated internal outlines and plumes characterized by a triangle with red borders. The altar table is the only one that differs from the others in the size and shape of the central mirror. The Virgin appears very young, with a white robe with golden edges and decorations on the mantle, with the crown on her head. She is on a heavenly cloud in an attitude of prayer.

The counter-façade is characterized by the presence of a vestibule that echoes the pronaos on the façade. There are in fact three arches, the larger central one through which the access door with stained glass is visible. At the top is the organ with metal pipes of various lengths on the facade, placed in a sound box that takes up the features of a marble aedicule characterized by buttresses, jambs and rectangular grooved and decorated tympanum.

The barrel vault follows the division into mirrors of the walls, which will therefore be wider at the altars and including the windows, and narrower at the pilasters. The latter have the perimeter decorated with a geometric band, while the surface is completely painted in pink, with floral decorations in the center and at the ends. The wider mirrors are characterized at the edges by ogival arches created by the presence of the windows, with the outlines painted in an orange yellow and a decorated tondo in the center of the vault.

ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Vitorchiano, il passato presente, edition edited by Fiorenzo Mascagna, historical research by Elide Vagnozzi, Stampa Arti Grafiche Artigiane 2005.

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/ 00095538, 1977.

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/00095540B, 1977.

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/ 00095541, 1977.

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/00095544, 1977.

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/00095545, 1977.

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/00095546, 1977.

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/00095547, 1977.

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/00095548, 1977.

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/00095549, 1977.

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

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

– Facebook page of Andrea Presutti Special thanks to Dr. Andrea Presutti for scientific advice and archival photographic material provided on Vitorchiano.