The Church of Saint Augustine has a late Renaissance style and the arrangement of the church and convent were stared by Augustinian monks in 1479 but the building was destroyed by the Duke of Alba in 1556.
At that time the Pope was at war with Philip II of Spain and Anagni played a role of bastion against the Spanish advance and of logistic support for the papal troops. Anagni was besieged and then captured and sacked by Spanish troops.
The works of rebuilding the church were then resumed and completed in 1575 and subsequently it had a new structure around 1790-95. At that time, the French troops, in their work of dismantling the papal state sold a large part of the convent, which was used as the barracks by the carabinieri, and they left only one house for the parish priest.
The façade is divided into three vertical sections with a single entrance door adorned with a pediment that is enclosed in an illustration of a large arch. The interior of the church has a circular plan with a central dome and three chapels and the main altar has a splendid seventeenth century canvas representing the Virgin with St. Augustine.
At the entrance there are two other side chapels: the left one dedicated to the Virgin with a precious painting of a Madonna with Child and the right one dedicated to the fallen of the Great War. It is a real peculiarity in which are represented the images of all the youth of Anagni who participated in the First World War, losing their lives in the conflict.
A special note: in the great film by Mario Monicelli dedicated to the Great War with Vittorio Gassman and Alberto Sordi, the chaplain is invited to read a letter from a soldier who came from Anagni.
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