Key to Umbria: Terni
 


San Pietro (1287)


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This church belonged to a community of Augustinian Hermits.

The Augustinians had settled at Sant’ Alo in 1252 and moved to SS Siro e Bartolomeo in 1254.  In 1287, Bishop Tommaso , who was a member of their Order, gave them a parish church on this site, and they built a new church and convent.  Three coats of arms of the Rustici family on the walls suggest that they financed at least part of the present structure.  The Augustinians extended the adjacent convent and re-modeled and extended the church in 1315. 

The Augustinian community was suppressed after the unification of Italy.

The church was damaged in the earthquake of 1703 and again the bombing of the Second World War.  

Exterior

The façade preserves the original rose window and lovely portal ....






with a relief of Christ blessing above. 








The apse can be seen from Piazza Carrara (reached from the left side of the church).  It was rebuilt in 1452 using money from the will of Stefano Manassei (see below).





The campanile is to the left of the apse.  Its lower part dates to 1430 and the upper part (above the loggia) was added in the 17th century. 





The cloister, to the right of the façade, is now incorporated into buildings that house a school.





Interior


The church was originally in the form of a large nave and rectangular presbytery, similar to the plan of Sant’ Agostino, Narni.   However, in the late 15th century, Stefano Manassei left money in his will for the rebuilding of the presbytery in its current polygonal form. 

The frescoes (late 14th and early 15th centuries) in the nave came to light in the restoration after the bombing of the Second World War. 

St Francis (14th century)

This fresco fragment, to the left of the 1st niche on the left, is attributed to the Maestro della Cappella Manassei.  It was part of a larger work that was damaged when the portal here was opened.  (This master probably also painted the two figures on the same wall that were also part of a larger composition, perhaps an Adoration of the Magi.)







Coronation and Dormition of the Virgin (ca. 1400)

The remains of these frescoes are in the 1st niche on the left. 

  1. ✴Only the lower part of the Coronation of the Virgin survives. 




  1. ✴The Dormition of the Virgin is the autograph work of the so-called Maestro della Dormitio di Terni.




St Antony Abbot (14th century)

This damaged fresco is on the left of the 2nd niche on the left.





Courtly scene (15th century)

This fragment depicts two noblemen with their little dogs in a rocky landscape.  [Where is it ??]







Madonna and child with saints (15th century)

This fresco, which is in the 3rd niche on the left wall, is attributed to the Maestro di Narni del 1409.  It depicts the Madonna and Child with SS John the Baptist and Catherine of Alexandria.



Monument to Stefano Manassei (1480)

This marble relief was originally a floor tomb in the presbytery, which Stefano financed in his will as a funerary chapel for himself and his wife.  It is now embedded in the left wall of the presbytery.







Madonna and child with saints (15th century)

This fresco, which is in the 3rd niche on the right wall, depicts the same subject as that in the aedicule opposite: the Madonna and Child with SS John the Baptist and Catherine of Alexandria.



Standing angel (14th century)

This damaged and partially repainted fresco is to the left of the 1st  niche on the right.









Scenes from the life of St Stephen (15th century)

These frescoes in the 1st  niche on the right depict:

  1. ✴the stoning of St Stephen; and



  1. ✴the funeral of St Stephen. 




Madonna and Child with saints (15th century)

This fresco in the 1st  niche on the right was partly covered by the cycle of scenes fro the martyrdom of St Stephen (see above).  It depicts the Madonna and Child with Pope Urban V on the left and another saint, largely obliterated by a later pilaster, on the right.



Madonna di Loreto (16th century)

This fresco is in a narrow niche to the right of the 1st niche on the right.  A figure of St Peter to the left draws attention to the image.





Frescoes on the counter-façade (14th century)

These depict:

  1. ✴St Antony Abbot, to the left of the entrance ; and 

  2. ✴the Madonna and Child, to the right of the entrance. 





Frescoes in the right side of the niche on the right depict:

  1. ✴the Madonna and Child (above); and

  2. ✴an angel making peace between two nobles (below).




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