Santa Maria Nuova (1568)

Sylvestrines

The parish church of Santa Maria di Porta Sole was documented here in 1285.   The Sylvestrines first moved here in 1293 from their monastery of San Benedetto (now Sant' Erminio - see Detour III, Walk VI).  They abandoned the site in 1376 because of a fire that destroyed much of the complex during the riots attending the destruction of the Fortezza di Porta Sole and moved to San Fortunato. 

Some of the Sylvestrines returned to what was left of their monastery in 1404 and rebuilt the church in 1406.  The Commune subsidised the construction and instituted an annual procession there of the feast of St Ambrose, the date at which the papal legate Girardo di Puy, the Abbot of Monmaggiore had been driven from the city.  

This church, which stood on the site of the present apse and transept, was known as Santa Maria Nuova.  Its Gothic portal in red and white marble survives in the wall in Via del Roscetto.  The monks transferred the relics of the Blessed Paolino Bigazzini (who had been born in Perugia) to the new church from the derelict  Monastero dei SS Marco e Lucia del Sambuco near Gubbio at some time in the 15th century, which led to an upsurge of the cult.

The church passed to the Servites (see below) in ca. 1540, at which point its Sylvestrines re-joined their colleagues at San Fortunato.

Servites

In 1540, the church passed to the Servites from the demolished church of Santa Maria dei Servi, and they rebuilt it on a larger scale.  They brought with them many works of art and also the patronage of a large number of important confraternities.

The fountain (1568)  at the base of the double staircase that leads to the façade was restored in 1722.

The design of the campanile (1644) is attributed to Galeazzo Alessi [date !!].

The Servites left Perugia in 1998. 

The buildings in the cloister of the adjacent convent (entered from Via Pinturicchio - see Walk VI)) have been adapted as apartments.

Interior

The church is usually closed.

Traces of the original structure survive in the apse and in some of the side chapels.

The choir dates to 1456.

Traces of frescoes (15th century) survive above the door that leads to the sacristy.

The funerary monument  (1479) of Braccio Baglioni, which is now in the chapel at the head of the right aisle, probably came from Santa Maria dei Servi.

In 1961, frescoes (15th century) by Lazzaro Vasari, the great grandfather of the more famous Giorgio Vasari, were uncovered in the chapel at the head of the left aisle.  Giorgio Vasari had recorded these as "some stories of the Madonna, with a Crucifix, in the chapel beside the sacristy".

A door in the Cappella del Crocifisso (the first altar on the right) leads to the Oratorio della Confraternita del Santissimo Crocifisso (see Walk VI).

Gonfalone di Santa Maria Nuova (1471)

The Confraternita di San Benedetto commissioned this banner, which is attributed to Benedetto Bonfigli.  It is recorded as the altarpiece of their funerary chapel (second on the right) in 1472, when the brothers sought a subsidy from the Commune for a grill that would protect it from the clamour of those venerating it.  In 1477, as plague swept the city, they finally received permission to carry it in processions "like the other banners of the city".   They subsequently used it in annual processions on the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin.

The banner depicts a majestic figure of Christ, who threatens Perugia with arrows. He is surrounded by angels carrying the instruments of the Passion, and flanked by representations of the sun and the moon.  The Virgin, SS Benedict and Scholastica and the Blessed Paolino Bigazzini intercede for Perugia, commending  the souls of a group of kneeling men and women that includes members of the confraternity as an angel menaces them with a lance.  This scene is set against a cityscape of Porta Sole seen from outside the city wall.

Works Removed from the Church

Works of art that came to this church from Santa Maria dei Servi are described on the page on that church.

Panels from the polyptych of the Sylvestrines (1487-93)

A series of three contracts between the Sylvestrines of Santa Maria Nuova and Fiorenzo di Lorenzo relate to this work:

• The first, dated 1472, documents the commission of a double-sided polyptych.

• The second, dated 1487, reduces the scope of the commission to a single-sided polyptych.

• The third, dated 1491 (when the work seems to have been in progress), requires that the project should be completed by 1493.

This polyptych remained in the church when the Sylvestrines left in 1540.   It had almost certainly been originally on the high altar, but it had been moved by the early 17th century.  It was probably dismantled in 1810, when it was moved to the Accademia di Belle Arti.  The main panels are now in the Galleria Nazionale (Room 15/16), but the original frame and the predella panels have been lost.

Return to Walk VI.