San Tommaso (13th century)
View of the remains of San Tommaso
from the path to Porta Pesa (see Walk VI)
A nunnery dedicated to St Thomas was established in the Rione di Porta Sole in 1235, with the permission of Pope Gregory IX. It was documented as a Cistercian nunnery in 1274, when the Bishop of Perugia sought alms on its behalf. In 1369, it absorbed the Cistercian nuns from San Giorgio, a nunnery outside Porta Sant’ Antonio that was falling into ruin. In 1555, Bishop Ippolito della Corgna called three Dominican nuns from San Paolo, Orvieto to reform the nunnery, and it subsequently passed to the Dominican Order.
This community was suppressed in 1864, but reconstituted in 1940, when the remaining nuns were merged with those of the Monastero di Beata Colomba in Corso Garibaldi.
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| Entrance to the ex-nunnery at 62 Via Pinturicchio |
Works Removed from the Church
Madonna and Child with saints (ca. 1330)
This dossal, which has recently been attributed to the Maestro dei Dossali di Montelabate, was moved from the nuns’ choir to the Galleria Nazionale (Room 4) in 1879.
Coronation of the Virgin (ca. 1528)
Sister Girolama, the Abbess of San Tommaso commissioned this altarpiece from Bernardino di Mariotto. It was transferred from to the Accademia di Belle Arti in 1810 and is now in the Galleria Nazionale (Room 29).
Incredulity of St Thomas (1530s)
This altarpiece is attributed to Giannicola di Paolo and dated on stylistic grounds to the 1530s. It was on the high altar of the church until 1879, when it was replaced by a copy and moved to the Galleria Nazionale. It is now in the deposit there.
The nuns took the copy with them when they moved to the Monastero della Beata Colomba, and it is now on the left wall of the church there.
Return to Walk VI.