Santa Croce (San Giuseppe)
(12th century)
This church, which already existed in 1124, was probably built using material quarried from the nearby Roman amphitheatre. It subsequently passed to the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre, whose headquarters were at San Luca and whose arms can be seen above the window in Corso Cavour. They built an adjacent hospice for pilgrims. An inscription in the inner courtyard of the Palazzo dei Priori records a prograame of work commissioned in 1363 by the Prior of the Order, Bartolomeo di Curzio, which probably involved the construction or renovation of this hospice.
The complex passed to the Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem (Knights of Malta) in 1489, and they retained it until 1833.
The complex then passed to the Corporazione dei Falegnami (Carpenters’ Guild), which moved here when the expansion of the Ospedale della Misericordia caused it to vacate the Chiesa di San Giuseppe in Via Oberdan (see Walk II). The guild re-dedicated the church to its patron saint, St Joseph.
The construction Tre Archi (see Walk IV) and the extension through it of Via Marconi in 1857 radically changed the complex:
the hospice was demolished;
Via Marconi tore through the inner courtyard, leaving two colonades behind; and
the portal of the church, which was originally in Corso Cavour, was moved to the present location in Via Marconi. (Traces of the original portal can be seen in what is now the side wall, in Corso Cavour.)
Madonna della Misercordia (15th century)
This detached and much repainted fresco from a lunette is now on the left wall. Some authorities suggest that it was commissioned during the plague of 1429: others attribute it to Mariano d’ Antonio and/or Benedetto Bonfigli, which would suggest a date closer to the 1450s.
The fresco depicts the Virgin shielding the people of Perugia under her cloak, with St Sebastian on the left and an angel holding the sword of faith on the right, [while God the Father fulminates above]. Inscriptions in poetic Italian document an exchange between the Virgin and St Sebastian.
Madonna and chld with Saints (16th century)
This fresco in the niche on the right depicts the Madonna and Child enthroned with SS [which ones?] and Bernardino. Christ the Redeemer is depicted above, with SS [which ones] to the sides,
Monument to Raffaele de’ Pazzi (1608)
This monument to the Commendatory (prior) of the Knights of Malta is on the counter-façade. [Is this a member of the Florentine family ?]
Madonna and Child with Saints (ca. 1632)
This panel by Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia, which is on the left wall, depicts the Madonna and Child with SS Joseph and Claudius.
The inclusion of St Joseph suggest that the Corporazione dei Falegnami brought it with them from San Giuseppe.
However, the inclusion of the more unusual St Claudius brings to mind the fact that the Confraternita di Pietra e Legname (confraternity of stone masons and carpenters) used the church of San Claudio (1476), which stood on the opposite side of Corso Cavour until it was demolished in 1798 (see Walk IV). Perhaps the confraternity moved across the road thereafter, bringing the picture with them.