CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY known as SAN AMANZIO

The decision to erect a new church dedicated to the Holy Trinity on the site of a pre-existing building was deliberated by the municipal council of Vitorchiano in 1476. To meet the construction costs, a one-year gabelle was used, which was then extended until 1479.

Info:Parish of S. Maria Assunta. Tel. 0761 370787.  Parish priest Don G. Pirri.

Parish of S. Maria Assunta in cielo Vitorchiano.

Holy Mass Hours: Weekdays at 5.00 pm (6.00 pm in summer time), before holidays at 5.00 pm (6.00 pm in summer time), Sunday at 10.15 am and 11.30 am

HISTORICAL NOTES AND DESCRIPTION

The decision to erect a new church dedicated to the Holy Trinity, on the site of a pre-existing building, was approved by the municipal council of Vitorchiano in 1476. To meet the construction costs, the one-year gabelle was used, which was then extended until 1479. The new religious structure was consecrated in 1533 by the Bishop of Bagnoregio Monsignor Pastorelli. In 1707 the church was dedicated to S. Amanzio, following the transport of the martyr’s body from Rome to the small town in the Alto-Lazio area. After passing Porta Romana, on the left you will find the church of SS. Trinità or Sant’Amanzio, with the annexed former Church of San Carlo with a stained glass window. Built in peperino stone, it has a gabled façade with a glazed and historiated rose window in the center, in which in a stylized way it is possible to identify the Virgin crushing the snake.

Next to it is the entrance portal of what was previously the church of San Carlo, where the confreres of the Pious San Carlo Association gathered, and which was incorporated into the current church of the Trinity. In fact, on the lintel it is possible to read the inscription: SOCIET SAN CAROLI.

The church is accessed via a staircase. The Renaissance entrance portal is inscribed in an arch with fluted jambs and architrave. The architrave is in turn surmounted by a lunette with a slightly splayed ring nut which has two small peperino flowers at the corners. The wooden portal is divided into mirrors of different sizes.

The interior consists of a single room with the exception of the small left side nave, which is the result of the incorporation into the building of the church of San Carlo. The roof is trussed with a deep raised presbytery which has an oval window at the top, with the entrance arch highlighted by stone ashlars.

On the right wall is a niche frescoed by Valentino Pica in 1514. Around the niche an aedicule, made in trompe-l’oeil, with pilasters decorated with large-leaved capitals and architrave with classical decorations, is surmounted by the figure of John the Baptist below. a canopy, supported by angels standing on clouds, whose curtains are supported by two curtain-holding angels. In the center of the niche, within a hall with a colonnade that breaks through the wall creating depth, the Annunciation is represented. The scene is inscribed within an arch made in trompe l’oeil that has the intrados and pendentives decorated with classical motifs. In the center is the Virgin praying in front of a lectern in front of which the Archangel Gabriel has descended. Above, a group of cherubs among the clouds watch the scene, while the dove of the Holy Spirit descends on the head of the Mother of Christ. In depth a landscape with vegetation.

It is the only work identified so far by Valentino Pica, belonging to a generation of painters of whom nothing is known except documents. Of culture close to Avaranzano, this fresco stands as the extreme provincial example of the Viterbo school.

In the second niche of the right wall there is a canvas depicting the Death of St. Joseph, attributable to the late 18th century and attributable to the school of Domenico Corvi, an attribution based mainly on the study of color, and the changes it undergoes in the course of the painter’s experiences. The tones are dull but there is a consequent accentuation of the plastic statuary values ​​of the figures. The scene sees in the center the reclining body of Saint Joseph with the Virgin on the right side and Jesus on the left side who is blessing the putative father, on whose head the Dove of the Holy Spirit hovers.

In the third niche of the right wall there is a canvas depicting the Madonna enthroned with Child and Saints, from 1560, as the date shown on the cartouche attests. The Virgin enthroned, crowned by angels, is surrounded by Saints Barbara, Catherine of Alexandria, Margherita and the Magdalene, while below, on their knees, are San Francesco and Santa Chiara. At the foot of the Virgin is a Latin inscription: BEATE VIRGINI / DIV // BARBARE MARGAR // CATHERINE ET MG // DICATUM MDLX. The work is characterized by the use of a few main colors, such as red, black and yellow, with very dark shades. In less than optimal conditions, it has undergone cuts in both the upper and lower parts. The picture is redone in the lower part; in fact, even the style of the two figures of kneeling saints seem to be at least a century later, and resemble those of the canvas of the Madonna and Child enthroned in the Municipal Auditorium.

Next to the right wall is the 16th century baptismal font in the Viterbo area, in peperino. The circular cup must have been the holy water stoup of the primitive church, with pods and a deep groove that runs parallel to the edge with a semicircular section; it is the result of excavations carried out on the outside and on the back of the church. Behind the baptismal font, fragments of frescoes are visible, characterized by squares with areas painted in Pompeian red, which run along the side walls at the bottom.

The presbytery is raised and has a peperino altar in the center characterized by the different shape of the bases on which it rests: on the right there is a bas-relief with three figures, perhaps the stylized representation of the Last Supper, while on the left it consists of a stem column with quadrangular capital, decorated with volutes and a simple circular frame at the base, which is part of the excavated material found behind the apse of the church.

It has stone walls except for the barrel vault which is in stucco and on the short side there is a window. On the emerging right wall, is the picture of the Immaculate Virgin depicted in a white robe, a blue cloak and her head surrounded by a crown of stars. She is standing on the terrestrial sphere as she crushes the snake; behind her, the crescent that releases an aura of light.

On the right side wall of the presbytery is a small square niche, painted in tempera with decorative motifs with acanthus leaves, from the 17th century. We do not understand the existence and function of this niche, placed too high to fulfill a practical function.

Leaning against the back wall is instead placed the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows with black clothes, hands crossed and with a desperate face. At the top is the life-size wooden Crucifix of the sixteenth century from Viterbo, surmounted in turn by a putto head applied to the back wall of the presbytery, from the seventeenth century in peperino from the Viterbo school. It has the classic characteristics of childhood images much used in the seventeenth century, especially in the decorations, as a filling function.

At the center of the presbytery leaning against the wall, on a peperino column, is a 13th century tabernacle, from the Viterbo school. The base is indented, two small columns, carved in bas-relief with acanthus-leaf capitals, support a very marked Gothic trilobal arch, in whose recesses are imprinted floral motifs, and is crowned by the end of a tympanum with curved indentation.

Below is a large block in peperino, perforated in the center, on the sides of which there are squares engraved in the stone, and on the facade the word DOM is engraved in large characters.

On the left is the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus with open arms, on whose hands the stigmata are visible. At the center of his chest is the heart radiant with gold.

Adjacent to the left wall of the central nave, is the statue of the Madonna del Rosario holding the Child, of modern manufacture, placed on a blue pedestal with gilt edges and decorations. On the left at the top, there is a fresco depicting the Madonna with Child, attributable to the end of the sixteenth-beginning of the seventeenth century, from the Viterbo area. This fresco seems to have been removed from another church and placed in its current location, after having made a reconstruction of the wall. The features of the Madonna recall those of Saint Agnes painted on the entrance door of the municipal auditorium. The fresco is in a bad state of conservation, so much so that some areas of color have fallen off and the incisions of the contours are visible, made for the preparatory drawing, prior to the application of the color.

Proceeding towards the exit, there is a 14th century peperino pulpit in the Viterbo area. It has a hexagonal shape and is supported by iron structures leaning against one of the three columns of the church that delimit the side aisle. It is characterized by mirrors on which are carved, in bas-relief, trefoil arches with pointed arches. In the third mirror from the left is the symbol of the Eucharist. This pulpit was originally supposed to have a different location, as it could not have been placed in the current one, as it is established that the architectural body on the left of the church was added only later, according to the last interpretation given to the building.

Beyond the round arches that delimit the side aisle of the church, there is the statue of S. Rita da Cascia, of modern manufacture, placed on a peperino pedestal on which her name is written. The Saint, in monastic robes, holds the crucifix in her hands, which she looks intently, and her head is surrounded by a halo.

Leaning against the short wall of the nave, is the aedicule altar dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel, consisting of two columns of fake red marble with raised branches of roses that support a broken tympanum, in the center of which is a mirror with the Eucharistic symbol , supported by lateral volutes. Below, two cherubs hold up a scroll with scrolls. Above is a molded bezel with a cherub face in the center. The canteen is very simply decorated with mirrors of different marbles. At the center of the altar is the canvas depicting St. Michael the Archangel killing the dragon with a theatrical gesture, a copy of the same subject created by Guido Reni in the Capuchin church in Rome.

Along the long wall is a reliquary urn in gilded wood, with a red velvet background, attributable to the 17th century, made and signed by Keayter Federico, which contains the relics of Saint Amanzio. The saint’s body is stretched sideways on a pillow, with his head resting on one hand, while in the other he holds the palm of the resurrection. He wears royal robes, red and gold, and his head is crowned with a garland of flowers. In front of him an outstretched sword and the glass urn containing the relics. Above, externally, in gilded fabric letters is the inscription CORPUS S. AMANTIIM. Two life-sized angels, who take different positions with large wings, support the large urn, whose edges are defined by large, highly articulated and redundant volutes, on whose top cornucopias originate. The cover of the urn is still raised with respect to the latter and decorated with a high frame with festoons and above still scrolls gathered under a crown. The support at the bottom, carved in a single piece, is intended to represent clouds overlooked by cherubs. The last relevant element inside the church is the peperino stoup that has the same features as the baptismal font, attributable to the 16th century in the Viterbo area. The circular cup is poded and with a deep groove that runs parallel to the edge with a semicircular section.

ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bernardini C. Goletti A, nella terra fedelissima di Vitorchiano. Le Confraternite…, 2000, p. 31.

Vitorchiano, il passato presente, edizione curata da Fiorenzo Mascagna, ricerche storiche Elide Vagnozzi, Stampa Arti Grafiche Artigiane 2005.

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/00095515, 1977

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/00095516, 1977

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/00095517, 1977

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/00095518, 1977

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/00095520, 1977

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/00095521, 1977

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/00095523, 1977

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/00095524, 1977

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/00095525, 1977

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/00095532, 1977

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/00095533, 1977

Picchetto F.- Pedrocchi A. M , scheda OA n. 12/00095535, 1977