Sermoneta Cathedral
Santa Maria Assunta is Roman Catholic cathedral located in the center of Sermoneta, region of Lazio, Italy. It is in the Gothic style,
History
The church is documented for the first time in the 12th century (1149-1160). A palaeo-Christian church was putatively first built in the 5th century atop a temple dedicated to the pagan goddess of Cybele. The Romanesque layout of the cathedral was refurbished in the next century in a Gothic style.
Description
The church has a tall square bell-tower with rounded arches. The portico is Gothic and leads to a nave sustained by marble columns. The lunette of the portico was frescoed in the 15th century with a Madonna and Child with Saints Peter and Epaphroditus and Christ and four angels by Pietro Colaberti of Piperno. The interior chapels also have frescoes.
The first chapel on the right was refurbished in the 1590s by the De Marchis family. The wall frescoes depict contemporary figures such as Carlo Borromeo and the donors. The main altarpiece, the Madonna degli Angeli (circa 1452), is attributed to Benozzo Gozzoli. Other sources attribute the work to the time after a plague epidemic or earthquake in 1456-1457. The church also has frescoes attributed to Bernardino Cesari depicting the Life of the Virgin.[1] Works of art in the church is an altarpiece depicting the Holy Family with St Anne and John from a 16th century Neapolitan artist. The church also has a 15th century Last Judgement fresco.
In the adjacent Diocesan museum are altarpieces including:[2]
- Coronation of the Virgin (1576) by Girolamo Siciolante
- St. Michael Archangel (1595) by Francesco da Castello
- Madonna and Child with Saints Stephan and Lawrence (17th century)
- Annunciation (1606) by Matteo Rosselli
- Madonna of the Rosary with St Francis, Jerome, Dominic, and Catherine of Siena by Giovanni Domenico Fiorentini
- Madonna and Child with Saints Ignatius, Francesco Borgia, Stanislao Kostka, Aloysius Gonzaga, Francis Xavier, and the blessed Claudio Acquaviva by Odoardo Vicinelli
References
- ↑ Pro Loco Sermoneta website, entry on Cathedral.
- ↑ Comune of Sermoneta, short entry.