CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA DELLA VITTORIA

THE HISTORY

The church of Santa Vittoria is the oldest parish church of Acquapendente. In the “Chronicles of Acquapendente”, Fr. Biondi mentions Santa Vittoria as the most important of the six churches that have been cared for (the others are S. Lorenzo, S. Giovanni, S. Pietro, S. Angelo, S. Sepolcro). The first residential area of the city of Acquapendente developed around the ancient parish church of Santa Vittoria. In 1588 Acquapendente belonged to the diocese of Orvieto and Santa Vittoria had the title of priory church which it held until, in 1649, the church of the Holy Sepulcher was elevated to a cathedral and declared the capital of the diocese. The church, built in the Gothic style, was remodeled and completely transformed in the mid-eighteenth century thanks to the will and financial commitment of the Prior Don Giovanni Vitali. The current architectural form is due to the renovations carried out in the 19th century by the architect Guglielmo Meluzzi.

DESCRIPTION

The façade is a simple hut, of giant Tuscan order with pilasters, with epigraphed entablature and tympanum. A double flight staircase climbs to the entrance which opens onto a sort of arengario. The interior is divided into three naves: the highest central one is covered by a barrel vault, while the lower side ones have a ribbed vault. In the middle of the aisles there are two parallel chapels. Two rows of rectangular pillars divide the three naves. Once inside, along the right aisle, we meet the chapel of the Madonna del Santo Rosario, built in 1929. A marble altar houses the modern statue of the Virgin and Child between two saints. After passing the door that gives access to the sacristy, you reach the end of the central nave. Three steps lead to the presbytery, bordered by a marble balustrade, where a statue by Giovanni Bulgarini dated to 1751 is placed in the center of the apse. The sculpture is in cherry wood and represents the Madonna del Fiore. The Virgin holds a bunch of cherries in her right hand while in her left hand she supports the Child who in turn supports a bird. Until 1986, in place of this statue, there was the one commissioned by the Biondi family, around the sixteenth century, representing Santa Vittoria, as confirmed by the inscription on the fascia of the apsidal basin: “Deus almae victoriae oratu, debitas poenas Scelerum remitte”. The people of Acquapendente are very devoted to the Madonna del Fiore and on May 15 of each year they dedicate a feast to her during which the statue is carried in procession in memory of the miracle that took place in 1166, when a dry wood of a cherry tree miraculously blossomed. giving the people the strength to rebel against Federico Barbarossa. Continuing in the left aisle we find it devoid of works in the middle aisle there is the chapel dedicated to the Annunciation, also built in 1929. To decorate the altar we find an eighteenth-century canvas with an Annunciation. Above the portal, in the counter-façade wall, a beautiful balcony characterized by polychrome marble.

ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

AA.VV. Acquapendente e il suo territorio. Regione Lazio, Assessorato alla Cultura, Spettacolo, Sport e Turismo. Direzione regionale cultura, sport e turismo, area valorizzazione del territorio e del patrimonio culturale. Avellino 2004.

Agostini, Le chiese di Acquapendente, Acquapendente 1987;

Biondi P., Le origini del comune di Acquapendente e la Madonna del Fiore, Acquapendente 1966;

Costantini N., Memorie storiche di Acquapendente, Acquapendente 1982;

Lise G., Acquapendente. Storia. Arte. Figure. Tradizioni, Acquapendente 1971.

Le opere d’arte della chiesa di Santa Vittoria di Acquapendente sono state catalogate sui modelli inventariali nel 1993 dalla Soprintendenza BAS di Roma (Catalogratrice A. Capriotti); le schede sono state revisionate nel 2003 da P. Grassi per la Regione Lazio.

Acquapendente Arte città, Chiesa di Santa Vittoria.