Chiesa di San Michele Arcangelo – Acquaiura di Spoleto (PG)
Chiesa di San Michele Arcangelo – Acquaiura di Spoleto (PG)
http://www.iluoghidelsilenzio.it/chiesa-di-san-michele-arcangelo-acquaiura-di-spoleto-pg/Background
The church stands at the highest point of the small town, frequented since Roman times, as evidenced by a Roman travertine altar, found there, dedicated to the Bona Dea , dating back to the early imperial age, now preserved in the Villa Morelli De ' Mad about Eggi.
(CIL, XI 4769 = ILS 3492: [ Lu ] cus Bon ( ae ) Deaededicatus, ut liceat per masculos remundari, permitting Pom [ p (-)] com [ magi ] str ( a ) ara ( m ) posu ( it ) Ren (-)Maxim ( a ), uxor Umbr [ o ] nis p ( rimi ) p ( ilaris ). Posit ( a ) in vac [ uo ] his ).
The popular tradition has it very ancient and, in fact, fragments of capitals and a small pillar from the early Middle Ages, of unknown origin but probably used in a pre-existing sacred building, are walled inside the church.
The first news of the existence of the church is found in the tithes registers of the Spoleto countryside collected by Pietro Sella in the Rationes decimarum Italiaein the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Umbria (Vatican City, 1952), which, although not directly citing the religious building, reports the villa of Acquaiura in cartography with the symbol of the church.
Subsequently the building of worship is mentioned in the Pelosius Code (second half of the 1300s) as " Sant'Angelo di Acquviuola ", the ancient toponym of the town, part of the Pievana di San Pietro in Montanis and endowed with a curate.
Later it is found in the land registry of 1401 in the repertoire of ecclesiastical bodies and hospitals: it owned 28 plots of land, including woods, vineyards and cultivated or hard-boiled lands.
It was therefore a rather important church despite the decentralized position.
The church is also registered in the land register of 1545, when it still has numerous possessions.
Its current form derives from the enlargement of a smaller church, corresponding to the entrance environment, which appears, in fact, as an autonomous organism for the wall system, for the different orientation (north-south) and for the detachment in the pavement design.
Presumably in the first half of the 1500s the nave of the present church was built, leaning against the east wall of the old church and put in communication with the latter by opening a gap in the wall itself.
At the same time the old apse was transformed into a chapel, closed by a wall and a wooden gate, like a newsstand, also renewing the decoration, but retaining a fifteenth-century image of the Madonna and Child , evidently the object of devotion among the population.
In a testament of 1550 we speak of the " altar of the new chapel of the Virgin and of St. Anthony ".
External appearance
The facade is bare, with a single window, is surmounted by a double bell-shaped bell tower, the entrance is on the right wall, corresponding to the access of the old church.
Internal
The interior has a single nave, with the chapel of the Virgin on the left, adorned with a fifteenth-century depiction of the Madonna and Child , surrounded by later frescoes, from the school of Spain, on the left San Giuseppe and on the right San Michele Arcangelo , above a Glory of Musician Angels , above the arch the Eternal Father and other illegible frescoes.
On the side walls are depicted in the upper left, Santa Lucia , in the lower San Rocco , on the other side, in an unrecognizable fresco and in the lower Sant'Antonio da Padova .
Inside the new church there are two side altars, on the first, located on the left, is a canvas depicting the Madonna of the Rosary with San Francesco, San Domenico and Santa Caterina da Siena , shortly after a statue of Our Lady of Sorrows , probably already placed on the right altar.
On the left of the presbytery area a small door gives access to the sacristy.
The frescoes that decorate the presbytery show an inscription with the names of the Saints who took care of its execution: two characters who lived in the second half of the 16th century.
Based on the stylistic analysis and comparison with other works, they are attributable to the Spoleto painter Piermatteo Gigli.
The ceiling is decorated with grotesques that surround ovals with the Risen Christ in the center and the four evangelists on the sides, beneath which stands a large Crucifixion .
The Magdalene is depicted collapsed at the foot of the cross, on her left San Michele Arcangelo and on the right San Giovanni Evangelista and San Rocco .
On the sides, executed by a different hand, perhaps by the pupil of Gigli " Maestro di Casale Paroli ", above two prophets and under San Bernardino da Siena and Sant'Antonio da Padova .
On the right wall there was a door, now walled up.
The right altar is now bare.
Documentary sources
AA. VV. All'Ombra dei Castagni, curated by Marina Malatino
AA. VV. Monteluco and the sacred mountains (Proceedings of the study meeting, Spoleto 1993), Spoleto 1994
Illustrative technical report for the extraordinary maintenance of the church, November 2012.
CECCARONI S., The Cult of St. Michael the Archangel in the medieval religiosity of the Spoleto area, The Notebooks di Spoletium, 6, Accademia Spoletina, Spoleto, 1993
FAUSTI L., The Churches of the Diocese of Spoleto in the 14th century according to a 16th century code, Archive for the ecclesiastical history of Umbria, Foligno, 1913
Note
The photo gallery and the text were produced by Silvio Sorcini
Map
Link to coordinates
Comments
Post a Comment