CHURCH OF SAN LORENZO

THE HISTORY

Already in 1588 the existence of the church of San Lorenzo in the Chronicles drawn up by Paolo Biondi was mentioned, as a building placed in the fifth place of the parishes of Acquapendente. Concrete news of the church building is found more conspicuous only two centuries later, and exactly in 1871 when the parish seat was transferred to the church of San Michele Arcangelo, and later in 1875 to the church of Santo Stefano. In 1877 the previous church was demolished and the new one was inaugurated on a project by Guglielmo Melluzzi dedicated to the saints Lorenzo Levita and martyr and Michael the Archangel, in memory of the previous buildings of worship. In 1880 the Costantini family had the chapel of the Sacred Heart built inside the building, also commissioning an altarpiece depicting the Sacred Heart of Jesus by the painter Luigi Fontana. And again at the end of the nineteenth century, as evidence of the great fervor that still revolved around the church, we find another work signed and dated Vincenzo Pacelli, 1888 with the depiction of the Immaculate Madonna between San Lorenzo and San Michele Arcangelo. Following the bombings of the Second World War, the church underwent numerous restorations, particularly aimed at its interior.

DESCRIPTION

The façade of the church of San Lorenzo is presented in its neoclassical forms created in 1877. A double flight of symmetrical stairs leads us to the high podium which leads to the access portal, built with a simple trilithic structure surmounted by a tympanum. Four pilasters of the Tuscan giant order symmetrically arranged two on each side at the sides of the portal, frame a small oculus in the center of the facade. A large and simple tympanum closes at the top.

Inside, the essentiality of the neoclassical forms of the large round arches characterizes the large and single nave surmounted by a barrel vault. Entering, immediately behind the compass, we find on the right an iron spiral staircase that gives access to the balcony above.

On the right side wall we find in front of the Baptistery the canvas with the representation of the Immaculate Madonna between San Lorenzo and San Michele Arcangelo, made by Vincenzo Pacelli in 1888. Immediately afterwards, the Chapel of the Sacred Heart, commissioned in 1880 by the Costantini family, follows. Above the altar, the canvas depicting the Sacred Heart of Jesus, created by the Marches painter Luigi Fontana, a pupil of Tommaso Minardi. The apse area preserves a wooden crucifix from the 16th century and in the cap a radial representation with 4 clypei at the base, inside which the four symbols of the evangelists are depicted, in the center, the dove of the Holy Spirit inside a tondo. On the left wall, placed in front of the altar of the Sacred Heart, the second altar is dedicated to the Madonna della Salute. The 16th century fresco above the altar with the Madonna enthroned with Child and angels, is the only surviving work of the original decoration of the church. Remodeled several times, this work underwent the last restoration in 1987. Before leaving the church we find the glazed majolica baptistery from the 16th century. On the left side of the church there was a lunette on a table with Christ in Pietà between angels from the early sixteenth century, now kept in the city museum, in the seat of the bishop’s palace.

ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

AA.VV. Acquapendente and its territory. Lazio Region, Department of Culture, Entertainment, Sport and Tourism. Regional Directorate for culture, sport and tourism, area for the enhancement of the territory and cultural heritage. Avellino 2004.

Agostini A., The churches of Acquapendente, Acquapendente 1987.

Pietro Paolo Biondi, The Chronicles of Acquapendente. Description of the land of Acquapendente with its antiquity, nobility, government, customs and other things (printed edition of the manuscript ddl 1588) Acquapendente 1984.

Lise G., Acquapendente. History. Art. Figures. Traditions, Acquapendente 1971.

The works of art in the church of San Lorenzo di Acquapendente were cataloged on the inventory models in 1993 by the BAS Superintendency of Rome (Catalogratrice A. Capriotti); the cards were revised in 2003 by Fr. Grassi for the Lazio Region.

Acquapendente art city, church of San Lorenzo.