Churches & Places of Worship

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The church of San Marco Evangelista and Santa Caterina d’Alessandria of Egypt was the most important of Cellino San Marco and was a collegiate church as it was governed by a college of 6-7 priests.

Its construction dates back to the 18th century and it was then restored many times during the nineteenth century.

The interior of the church has three naves.

In the left one you can admire the altar of St. Joseph, a Baroque imitation of the last century with a painting of the sixteenth century that represents "the announcement of the flight into Egypt".

The main altar, on the other hand, is in polychrome marble from the 18th century and has a painting by Giovanni Scatigni from 1754 representing San Marco.

The church has a central octagonal base dome with portraits of the 4 evangelists.

Outside, the dome is covered with polychrome majolica and gives it a particular style that contrasts with the austerity of the facade.

Next to the church, in the back, there is a simple stone bell tower built in 1863 to replace a previous one.

Under the church there is a gallery that connects it to the Baronial Palace.

It was used for the burial of the dead.

Only an edict of Napoleon during the French occupation forced the creation of cemeteries outside the inhabited centre.

The abbey of San Martino al Cimino of Viterbo, is the heart and the centre along the Via Francigena around which the centre of San Martino al Cimino was formed with a fascinating history.

The centre was founded in the 9th century near a small Benedictine church, on land donated to the Abbey of Farfa in 838, which was later moved.

The construction of the abbey was favoured by Pope Eugene III who was a Cistercian and entrusted it to the monks of the order of French origin.

A strong impulse was then given by Innocenzo III who was very active in the area of Viterbo to try to bring together the scattered monastic communities and to favour the rapprochement of the numerous hermits.

Innocent III is the Pope who met Saint Francis and had to recreate a bond with all those who preached against the riches of the church.

The abbey of San Martino was consecrated in 1225 but already in 1300 the first problems began and the complex was partly abandoned partly due to the weather conditions of the place.

Its greatest splendour then came under Pope Innocent X Pamphilj who named his sister-in-law, Olimpia Maidalchini, princess of San Martino al Cimino.

Olimpia gave life to an urban and architectural renewal of the whole village and to the construction of a magnificent palace where once the abbey convent was located.

The transition from the monks to the priests who still manage it dates back to this phase.

The façade of the church therefore has seventeenth-century features with two large bell towers, with clock and sundial, on the sides of the entrance in Gothic style.

The two towers also had a certain static support function. Above the entrance door the coat of arms of Pope Innocent X immediately stands out.

The plan of the church is a Latin cross with three naves of which the central one is illuminated by a large central Gothic window carved and enriched by a precious rose window.

The church still shows the austere characters of the Cistercian monks united in some areas with some later styles.

Inside there is the Jubilee Banner for the holy year 1650 made for Donna Olimpia by the artist Mattia Preti and here are buried Donna Olimpia and her nephew Gerolamo Pamphilj, the last descendant of the family who died in 1760.

Of the whole convent, largely transformed into the Doria Pamphilj palace, there remains the Chapter Room which still presents itself with the typical features of the Gothic ogival arches of Cistercian architecture.

Even if it has a black and white marble floor realized by Borromini and seventeenth century frescoes.

This is the seat of the Confraternity of the SS. Sacrament and St. Rosary.

The church of Santa Maria delle Farine is located outside Viterbo along the Via Cassia.

Its construction dates back to 1320 at the behest of the Captain of the People, Silvestro Gatti, as shown on a plaque on the facade.

Probably the church was built on the remains a pagan temple dedicated to the Goddess Furina, protector of thieves, from which her name derives.

According to other studies the name Farina comes from the Latin "refarinae" (theft) which indicates that the area was inhabited by thieves.

The façade is very simple in peperino stone and is enriched by a central rose window carved in stone of the XIV century and by a multicoloured majolica tondo (circular relief).

In the façade there are different layouts of the stones that reveal how the facades are the result of successive expansions.

The one on the left was added in the twentieth century.

The interior is very simple in Italian Gothic style and the altar is embellished with a beautiful peperino canopy.

The church ends with a bell tower with two bells placed side by side in 1612.

The sanctuary of Santa Maria della Quercia(Oak Tree) is located in the town of Viterbo called La Quercia where two miracles occurred, from which one of the most well-loved cults in Italy began, that of the Madonna della Quercia.

It all starts thanks to miracles from which the whole cult originates.

In 1417 the blacksmith Battista Juzzante asked the painter Martello, called Monetto, to paint a Madonna on a tile to put on a branch of an oak to protect his land.

It is said that more than a few people in the village had tried to steal the tile, but the Madonna would always return to the branches of the tree that had bent in such a way as to protect it from the elements.

In 1467 the first miracle took place: a knight chased by rival gangs took refuge under the branches of the oak and suddenly became invisible to his enemies.

The second miracle, still the same year, is that of having stopped the plague after about 30,000 people had gathered to pray around the tree.

At the end of the plague a great pilgrimage immediately began and Pope Paul II decided at that point to build a church that was entrusted to the Dominican fathers who chose it as their protector.

Thanks to the great arrival of offers, after two years the church was completely built with a project designed by the great architect Giuliano da Sangallo.

Another episode that contributed to the growth of religious interest around the Madonna della Quercia was the proclamation of Pope Pius V who had elected her protector of the Christian army at the battle of Lepanto in 1571.

The battle fought near a Greek island was decisive for blocking the Turkish and Muslim advance in the West. Upon returning from the battle, the commander of the Christian fleet John of Austria placed a small box with two Turkish flags at the foot of the Madonnna.

While the history began in Viterbo, its national importance over the centuries is due to the Dominican friars, who have guarded her for those centuries and elected her as their patron, and to the Brotherhood of Butchers whose members were Maremma meat merchants.

These merchants used to go to Rome to sell their meat and decided to transfer their headquarters to a small church in the centre of Rome, transforming that of Nicola de Curte in Campo dei Fiori dedicating it to the cult of the Madonna della Quercia.

Over time the Macellari (Brotherhood of Butchers) decided to rebuild the church and thanks to the Dominican Pope Benedict XIII began the work in 1727.

Another miraculous event then occurred during the Second World War when all the bombs that fell on Viterbo and the surrounding areas left the sanctuary intact.

In 1873 the sanctuary, already elected as a basilica, was declared a National Monument by the Italian State.

The church presents notable differences in style between the sober Renaissance exterior and the richly Baroque interior.

The façade from the early 16th century is finished with ashlar facing and has simple forms with three entrance doors, a central rose window and a closing tympanum with a bas-relief depicting the oak and the lions (representing Viterbo).

On the three doors there are three ceramic lunettes made by the great Andrea della Robbia, obviously the central one shows the Madonna della Quercia and the side ones San Tommaso d'Aquino (St Thomas Aquinas) and San Pietro (St Peter).

On the right side of the church stands a rather low bell tower with three levels of openings made by Ambrogio da Milano, with two original bells of 1578 and 1655.

While on the other side of the facade you can see a small balcony from which the Pope sent the blessing to the faithful, dating back to 1483 by the artist Vincenzo da Viterbo.

The church has three naves divided by columns with round arches and a precious gilded coffered ceiling designed by Antonio da Sangallo.

But all the attention is captured by the central marble aedicule (shrine) made by Andrea Bregno in 1490 and which guards the tile with the image of the Madonna.

A magnificent inlaid choir from 1514 and a precious organ from 1613 complete the image of the church.

The adjoining convent is also an architectural masterpiece with its two cloisters from the 15th and 16th centuries and a refectory designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger.

The small church of San Marco (Saint Mark) is one of the oldest in Viterbo.

From a plaque on the façade we read that it was consecrated in 1198 by Pope Innocent III in the presence of 15 cardinals.

At that time the pope was busy trying to find a balance with St. Francis and in soothing the souls of the many hermits who asked for a church closer to the people.

The church was built by the Benedictine monks of San Salvatore at Monte Amiata and has still kept its small size of 16 x 8 meters.

Its simple gabled façade appears to be raised above the street level, probably because the river Urcione, then covered, flowed nearby.

The very simple interior is in local peperino stone with a wooden truss roof.

On one wall you can admire a small part of the frescos that adorned the church: a Madonna with Child and a depiction of God between St. Peter and St. Paul in the apse area attributed to Giovan Francesco d'Avaranzano called "Fantastico".

Among the works we note a painting on panel from 1512 by Giovan Francesco d'Avaranzano that represents a Madonna enthroned with the Child.

The church was bombed during the Second World War and later restored.

The church of Santa Maria del Suffragio was built in 1572 with the demolition of a previous medieval church in Viterbo dedicated to San Quirico.

Its name derives from the Confraternity of the Souls of Purgatory or of Santa Maria del Suffragio that has managed it since 1618 by undertaking various jobs.

The current Baroque façade dates back to the eighteenth century and shows a play of colours between light peperino stone and plaster and is divided into two parts.

In the lower one it is characterized by a large entrance door surmounted by decorations and by a fresco of a Madonna with the souls of Purgatory.

The meaning of the painting refers to the mission of the Confraternity which was to raise funds to celebrate functions in suffrage of the souls in purgatory.

At the sides of the door there are two empty niches while, on the upper part, a series of decorations and architectural plays, typical of the Baroque, are closed with a tympanum with the coat of arms of Bishop Brancaccio of Viterbo.

The interior has a single nave and the space is dominated by a large painting on the ceiling that once again represents God in glory between the Madonna and Jesus with the souls in Purgatory.

The church has a baroque appearance with rich decorations and games of multicoloured marble.

In addition to the main altar, there are four side altars embellished with important works such as a 1730 fresco by Luigi Vanvitelli depicting the prophet Habakkuk and the Angel and the prophet Daniel in the lion pit.

Above the high altar there is an altarpiece by the painter Francesco Maria Bonifazi of Viterbo that represents a Madonna with Child and an Angel who presents a soul that leaves Purgatory.

The painter is also the artist of a painting of 1630 inserted in a large baroque aedicule and representing Saint John the Baptist baptizing Jesus.

Above the entrance door there is a choir with an interesting organ from 1777 created by Raffaele and Domenico Fedeli di Camerino.

The small church of Santa Maria della Carbonara is located right in the medieval part of Viterbo.

It owes its name to the ancient custom of digging defensive ditches that were called charcoal pits or carbonare.

The construction dates back to the 12th century and was the seat of the Knights Templar, the most famous Christian religious knightly order.

It was born in the Holy Land during the First Crusade to defend pilgrims and the Holy Places (Templar comes from the Temple of Jerusalem) and became a monastic order in 1129 with Bernardo di Chiaravalle.

The knights therefore had a double role as a soldier-monk and over time they entered every aspect of western social and religious life until the king of France suspended the order in 1312.

The church was then entrusted to the Knights of Rhodes, who settled for a few years in Viterbo after the conquest of the Turks.

The church today appears with a very modest and simple aspect.

The ancient painting of the Madonna della Carbonara is today in the Museo del Colle del Duomo.

The church dedicated to Saint Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits, was built in Viterbo by the Bussi family around 1671, as reported by a plaque on the façade.

But over the years many other families have contributed to its construction such as the first Spadensi who was the protagonist of a rather complex affair.

In fact, the heirs contested the will of Donato Spadoni in 1638 and went into argument with the seminar: the controversy ended with a reduction in the sum given to the seminar.

For the construction of the seminar it was permitted to close an alley and the complex appeared appropriate for its importance.

The façade was then rebuilt in 1837 by Vincenzo Federici .

Today it appears to us with an austere nineteenth-century style, in peperino stone and plaster and the only form of lightness is given by the play of colour between the stone and the plaster.

The interior was restored in 1893 by Castore Costantini and is a unique environment with side chapels and a frescoed dome.

In this church, Pope Leo XIII received the first communion on June 21, 1821, when he was a seminarian. The episode is remembered with a fresco of the Pope's coat of arms.

Today the church has been entrusted to a therapeutic community and to the Romanian Orthodox parish of "San Callimaco di Cernica".