THE CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA OF MONTEDORO

HISTORY

On this site where now stands the church of Our Lady of Montedoro , once called Monte Moro, there was a small chapel or shrine with an image of the Virgin by Viterbo attributed to the painter Antonio del Massaro, who painted it around the end of the fifteenth century. The image soon became famous for the many miracles it performed, so in the early decades of the sixteenth century they began to build a church that would  incorporate the niche. Following the terrible plague that struck in 1523, some cities of Tuscia (including Montefiascone) vowed to offer to the construction 70-80 ducats in order to obtain the intercession of Our Lady of Montedoro. However, on May 1st 1527, Montefiascone was sacked by  the army of Charles of Bourbon because they did not give him a direct route to Rome.  Consequently, the town faced death and destruction, and the builders of the church, brothers Giovanni Battista and Silverio, left the city. On July 10 , 1537 the community of Montefiascone hired the Roman builder Bartolomeo Ambrosino to continue the work of the niche (originally designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger between 1536 and 1537).  The original project, now conserved in the Uffizi gallery, considered the construction of a big convent with a squared courtyard, the church was supposed to be built on the side opening towards the lake. The work went on for some years, but as the years passed, the enthusiasm and financial means waned for its construction. The niche, abandoned by Ambrosino, was then entrusted in 1547 to architect Pietro Tartarin. The Sangallo project was fulfilled only as a small octagonal church, with a roof  to replace the planned dome, and a monastery that was completely different to Sangallo’s original ideas.  Orders such as the Capuchins , Augustinians , Carmelites and Minors  stayed in the modest building completed next to the church for short periods of time. They replaced the devotion to Our Lady of Montedoro towards Our Lady of Carmine and covered the  ancient fresco of the Virgin inside the wall of the new altar.  It remained so until the beginning of this century, when found, it was put back on display for the devoted.

DESCRIPTION

The current church of Montedoro looks like a massive octagonal building that, despite the limitations resulting from various executive difficulties, resembles the clear planning of artist Sangallo. The interior walls of the church are marked by five small apses, and frescoes commissioned ​​by the monks of Carmelitani order in the second half of the sixteenth century. However, the commission of the Carmelitani is only certain for one of the frescos; the rest of the remaining iconographic frescos, are more or less attributable to the period of the Carmelitani.   In the first apse to the right of the main entrance is a depiction of St. Carlo Borromeo, flanked by two saints with the Angel Gloria on top. Proceeding left, the next chapel has a Crucifixion with the Virgin, St. John the Evangelist, and Mary Magdalene, while in the lunette at the top of the figure is a Pietà (Madonna holding dead Christ). Celso Petrucci, the patron, has his coat of arms on the barrel vault . The saints that are painted next to the crucifixion are St. Lucia and St. Antonio of Abate. The third chapel, thanks to the Scarinci family and their heirs, the Boncompagni, preserves a fragment of a fresco depicting the Madonna and Child between two Saints, and God is at the top between two angels. The first to the left of the apse was made with a Resurrection fresco by Giovanni Cerquini in 1570, while the cap is decorated with angels. On the adjacent wall (which has no decoration), opens to a secondary entrance. Following another chapel, frescoed with an image attributed to the time of the Carmelitani  is an image of the Virgin with Jesus in her arms hanging over a mantle of clouds and surrounded by angels. Next to it, include the figures Enoch, Simon Pietro, the Carmelitani saints Alberto, and Angelo. The cap at the top is the figure of the Father flanked by two angels, the bottom shows the Dove of the Holy Spirit. The high altar, surmounted by a crucifix, and decorated by an old image of the Virgin dating from the second half of the fifteenth century, attributed to the painter Antonio of Massaro from Viterbo. The Carmelitani took possession of the small convent, and dedicated it to Saints Filippo and Giacomo, and reupholstered the fresco on the central altar with a painting of the holy owners. The whole structure is surmounted by a dome with an internal self-supporting structure. The church of Montedoro. News and History – The original project by Antonio da Sangallo (1536-37). In the early XIV century, along the road between Marta and Montefiascone, in a place called Montemoro, there was a XV century shrine containing an image of the Madonna attributed to the painter Antonio del Massaro known as “Il Pastura” from Viterbo. In the spring of 1523 Montefiascone was struck by the plague and the people made a vow to build a church in honour of the Virgin Mary. The original project of the church was designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (1536-37) and included a large convent built around a square cloister. The present octagonal church is only a part of the original project which was abandoned for financial reasons.

The Church of Santa Maria Montedoro
Translation by Marcella Stranieri, University of Maryland, enrolled in the USAC Viterbo program.

ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

G. Breccola – M. Mari, Montefiascone, Grotte di Castro 1979.
G. Breccola, La chiesa di Santa Maria in Montedoro. in Montefiascone. Emozioni storie e colori, vol. II, Viterbo 2000, pp. 93-110.
G. Breccola, Montefiascone. Guida alla scoperta, Montefiascone 2006.
Montefiascone Arte città – Chiesa di Santa Maria di Montedoro.
Montefiascone città d’arte, cultura e tradizione.