Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta
(7th century ?)
Archeological examination of the current structure suggests that it was probably established soon after the inhabitants returned to the site of the Umbrian settlement in the 7th century. The presbytery and the crypt below it seem to date to a 9th century remodelling, but the rest of the structure seems to have been rebuilt in the 12th century. The earliest surviving documentary reference to the church dates to 1148, when it was administered by a community of Augustinian canons.
Cardinal Bernardino Lopez commissioned the building of an atrium in front of the original facade in ca. 1500, and his arms can be seen in its vaults. The renaissance campanile had to be demolished and rebuilt in 1839, and the present neo-Classical facade was added in front of the atrium in 1840.
[Details of original facade inside the atrium and of the portal]
The walls pierced by arches that now separate the nave from the aisles replaced two colonades that used ancient columns. One of these columns is embedded in a pilaster on the left of the aisle (in the foreground of the illustration above). Other remains from the colonades can now be seen in the crypt.
Cardinal Bernardino Lopez commissioned the vaulting of the nave in ca. 1500, and his arms can be seen in the vault at the centre.
Cappella di San Fulgenzio
This elliptical chapel (the 2nd on the right) was built in 1672, and the relics of St Fulgentius were then translated from the Cappella di Sant' Antonio Abate (to the left of the presbytery) to the urn under the Baroque altar. The polychrome wooden statue (12th century) on the right of the Madonna and Child enthroned is in Byzantine style.
Cappella della Madonna della Misercordia
This chapel is to the right of the presbytery. Its present altarpiece (13th century) of the Madonna and Child, which is attributed to Simeone and Machilone, was stolen in 1978 but subsequently recovered. It has recently been restored.
This altarpiece has replaced an altarpiece (16th century) of the Madonna della Misercordia with SS Antony Abbot and Antony of Padua by Jacopo Siculo, which is now [where??]. This was subsequently transformed into a Madonna del Rosario by the addition of two angels who crown the Virgin with roses.
Presbytery
The marble high altar (12th or 13th century) now stands under a ciborium (16th century). The window at the foot of the altar allows worshippers to see the relics of St Victor and other martyrs, which are contained in a re-used Roman sarcophagus.
Two important inscriptions embedded in the left wall came originally from the cult sites at Ocriculum and relate to the relics of the saints of Otricoli:
an inscription (late 6th century) that identified the relics of St Fulgentius and other martyrs was brought here from San Fulgenzio in 1316; and
an inscription (late 6th or 7th century) that celebrates St Fulgentius' discovery of the relics of St Victor was brought here from San Vittore in 1351.
On the right of the presbytery, there is a lovely Renaissance tabernacle for the host, below the matrons' gallery.
Nearby, an arch in the pilaster in the nave contains frescoes (early 15th century) of saints in tondi, with a figure of a saint under the arch, all of which are attributed to the Maestro di Narni del 1409.
Cappella della Santissimo Sacramento
This chapel (the 1st on the left) is a smaller copy of the chapel with the same dedication in St Peter's, Rome. The frescoes (17th century) in the cupola of an Allegory of Prayer are from a cartoon by Pietro da Cortona.
The fresco (late 15th century) of St Bernardino of Siena to the right of the entrance to the chapel is by a follower of Pier Matteo d' Amelia.
Counter-façade
The panel (16th century) on the right shows;
scenes of the tortures inflicted on St Victor (scenes I - IX);
the martyrdom of St Corona (scene X); and
the beheading of St Victor (centre).
Cripta di San Medico
Steps on either side of the nave lead down to the annular crypt, which was remodelled in 1613 prior to the translation of the relics of St Medicus from San Vittore. The relics are now under the baroque altar. The inscription (10th or 11th century) to the left, which was discovered with the relics in 1611, identifies this otherwise unknown martyr.