San Domenico (1305-1482)

The Dominicans were the first of the mendicant orders to settle in the Perugia.  They arrived in 1234, and settled on land next to the parish church of San Stefano del Castellare.   The secular clergy were finding it difficult to cope with their rapidly growing flock, and the Dominicans effectively took over responsibility for the pastoral care of the parish.  Such was their success that they built a new church (later known as San Domenico Vecchio) on nearby land.

Pope Benedict XI gave the formal ownership of San Stefano del Castellare to the Dominicans in 1304.  He also granted plenary indulgences to those celebrating Mass there on the feast of St Stephen (August 3rd).   This would have attracted large numbers of pilgrims, many of whom would have come from Assisi, where the Portiuncula Indulgence was available on August 1st and 2nd.  This increased the friars' income, paving the way for the building of the present church.  Work started at the façade so that San Stefano del Castellare could initially remain in use.  (According to Giorgio Vasari, Giovanni Pisano built the nave of the church).

Despite the good start provided by the indulgence, the construction of San Domenico extended over almost two centuries.  There are only a few pointers left to the progress over this period:

• San Stefano del Castellare must have been demolished by 1368, the earliest date recorded on the frescoes in the apsidal chapels.

• The apse was sufficiently complete by 1411 for the work to begin on the stained glass window.  

• Pope Pius II finally consecrated the still incomplete church in 1458.  

• The campanile was built in the cloister to the left of the church in 1464-1500.
  

• Construction work on the church was finally completed in 1482.   

• The façade received its central portal in 1596.

Unfortunately, San Domenico has suffered badly from the ravages of time.  

• In 1540, the top of the campanile was demolished because (like the upper storey of Sant’ Ercolano) it interfered with the view from the Rocca Paolina.   

• More seriously, the vaults in the nave collapsed in 1614 and many works of art were destroyed. 
  

The repair of the damage was beyond the resources of the friars, and they appealed to Pope Urban VIII.  He sent Carlo Maderno to advise on the project (probably in 1625), and the church was finally re-consecrated by Cardinal Cosimo de Torres, Bishop of Perugia, in 1632.  The double staircase that now leads up to the church was installed in 1640.

The convent was used as a barracks during the Napoleonic occupation and, although the friars subsequently returned, they were expelled again in 1860 after the unification of Italy.  The nave and transepts remained in use for public services but the rest of the church and the convent were put to military use.  The intervention of the archeologist Giovanni Battista Rossi Scotti prompted the recovery of the church in the early 1900s.  It was finally restored in 1951.

Return to Walk IV.