Church of Santa Maria
The Church of Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the jewels that surround the Piazza del Pretorio in Sovana.
Perhaps to be identified with the church of Santa Maria consecrated by Bishop Ranieri of Tuscania in 1208, it is certainly already mentioned in the will of Count Ildebrandino Aldobrandeschi, known as the Red, of 1284, in which the count allocated to him the coins necessary for the purchase of a silver chalice for the altar.
Mentioned in the Decimari of 1296 and 1321-24, it was sacked and therefore perhaps also damaged by the Sienese in 1410 and by the Pitigliano in 1434.
Around 1558 the construction, on the initiative of the Grand Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici, of the Loggia with archive building, which later became Palazzo Burbon del Monte, deprived it of the facade, limiting access only to the side portal, open onto the square. Until the 17th century it was equipped with a real bell tower, which was then replaced by the bell tower visible today. Even in 1809, despite the fact that the town only had 140 souls, it maintained the title of Parish, together with the cathedral of St. Peter; from 1843 it assumed the functions of a single parish.
WHAT TO SEE:
The church has the usual characteristics of thirteenth-century buildings, with a Romanesque layout, but with some Gothic elements. Of particular value is the pre-Romanesque ciborium, attributed to Comacine workers of the 9th century, the only example in Tuscany, perhaps coming from an older church, to which some reliefs reused in the portal of the Sovana cathedral are probably also attributed.
In a niche to the right of the entrance there is a valuable fresco with the Madonna and Child between S. Barbara and S. Lucia and on the sides S. Sebastiano and S. Mamiliano, dated 20 December 1508 dedicated by a certain Giovanni di Valentino in memory of his father; below the sign of the Arte dei Calzolai. To the left of the entrance, in another niche, Crucifixion between Saints Anthony and Lawrence, against a backdrop of a lagoon landscape (perhaps Lake Bolsena), Saint Sebastian and Saint Rocco on the sides, a fresco from the Umbria-Lazio school dated to 1517 and with an inscription commemorating the dedicatee, Giovanni di Pietro. Also on the wall of the right aisle there is also a fresco depicting the Trinity, more damaged than the previous ones, inspired by the fifteenth-century Sienese artist Martino di Bartolomeo On the left aisle there is the chapel of the Assumption, completely frescoed by an artist from the circle of Andrea di Niccolò or in any case of the Umbrian-Sienese school of the early 16th century; on the vault are represented the four Evangelists and God Blessing, on the right wall Madonna with Child and Saints Raffaele and Tobiolo, Mamiliano, Antonio da Padova and Lucia.
HOW TO REACH IT:
The sacred building is located in the main square, Piazza del Pretorio, in the center of Sovana
IN THE SAME AREA YOU CAN ALSO VISIT:
Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul (Duomo); Fortress of Sovana; Praetorian Square; Città del Tufo Archaeological Park (Etruscan necropolis); church of San Mamiliano with Museum.
IF YOU ENJOYED THE CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE YOU CAN ALSO VISIT:
Church of S. Giorgio in Montemerano (22 km); Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher in Acquapendente (28 km); Church of SS. Pietro e Paolo in Roccalbegna (36 km); Abbey of S. Salvatore in Abbadia S. Salvatore (40 km); Churches of
San Pietro and Santa Maria Maggiore in Tuscania (42 km); Church of San Bruzio and Church of SS. Annunziata in Magliano (km 45); Church of San Flaviano in Montefiascone (52 km); Orbetello Cathedral (59 km).
CURIOSITY’:
the Child Jesus depicted in the arms of the Madonna in the sixteenth-century fresco to the right of the entrance, wears a coral pendant and a croissant around his neck. It was also used in Maremma, until not long ago, to give newborns a coral horn as an apotropaic and lucky charm object to ward off the evil eye and bad luck.
