Key to Umbria: Narni
 


Santa Maria del Piano (1483)


Umbria:  Home   Cities    History    Art    Hagiography    Contact 

   

Narni:  Home    History    Art    Saints    Walks   Monuments    Museums


This church, which is so-named because it stands in the plain below Narni, was also built on the site of an aedicule containing an image of the Madonna del Latte (see below).  This apparently performed a miracle in 1483,  which prompted Angelo di Cesi to secure from Pope Sixtus IV permission to build the church.  It seems to have belonged originally to a community of Clareni. 

The church was sacked by Imperial troops in 1527.  They stole the relics of “frate Pellegrino”, who had apparently been buried here in 1513 after his death in the odour of sanctity.

The church was transferred the from the Clareni to the Observant Franciscans [of San Girolamo] in 1568 at the behest of Pope Pius V.  They left the convent in 1661 for unknown reasons.  Their church subsequently became the cemetery church of Narni.

Exterior

The campanile to the right can be seen from the cemetery.







Interior


The nave has a barrel vault.  

The presbytery is elevated, presumably over a crypt.

There is a single side chapel on the left, next to the counter-facade.




Madonna del Latte with saints (ca. 1400)


This fresco of the Madonna del Latte with SS James and Catherine of Alexandria, which is attributed to the Maestro di Narni del 1409, is probably the image for which the church was built.  It is now in a niche behind the high altar. 

Madonna and Child with saints (15th century)

This fresco by a follower of Pintoricchio, which depicts the Madonna and Child with SS Antony of Padua and Jerome and a kneeling donor, was rediscovered under plaster in the right aisle.  The Child blesses with His right hand and holds a small bird in His left hand.




Madonna and Child with St Ansanus (ca. 1500)


This fresco by a follower of Pier Matteo d’ Amelia is in the chapel on the left.  It is inserted into a fictive triptych, with  later figures of SS Antony Abbot and Roch to the sides.




Adoration of the Shepherds (1585)

This detached fresco, which is by a follower of the Torresani, is in the left aisle.  [It is dated by inscription?]





Adoration of the Shepherds (17th century)

This panel [where?] is attributed to Girolamo Troppa.


Return to Monuments of Narni. 


Return to Around Narni.