Abbazia di San Pietro
Interior of the Church
The present church is essentially the structure recorded 1002, although the apse was rebuilt in the Gothic style in the late 13th century. However, the underlying architecture of the church is obscured by its later decoration.
Apse
The earliest decoration of the apse of which we are aware centred on the altarpiece (1333) that Abbot Ugolino di Nuccio da Montevibiano commissioned for the high altar from Meo da Siena (see the page on works of art removed from the church). This was a long low panel painted on both sides, suggesting that the church itself was effectively subdivided:
The monks would have worshipped in a choir located in the apse.
The lay congregation would have been largely confined to the nave.
In 1436, when the monks transferred to the Cassinese Congregation, this liturgical practice was transformed. In particular, the monks' choir was located in the crossing, in front of the high altar. For this reason, a
new high altar was built in 1436 and adapted in 1493 to accommodate a
new altarpiece that had been commissioned from Perugino (see the page on works of art removed from the church). This huge single-sided polyptych was installed
in 1500, when the altar was consecrated.
Francesco di Guido di Virio da Settignano worked continuously in the abbey in the period 1506-36, over-seeing the remodelling that was in part required by the liturgcal changes. Among other works, he was responsible for the two gilded stone pulpits (1521) that flank the presbytery. The
beautifully carved choir stalls, which were originally in the centre of
the nave, were begun in 1525, but work was halted for a period because
of an outbreak of plague. It resumed under Stefano Zambelli da Bergamo
and was completed in 1535. The door at the end of the choir, by
Stefano’s brother, Damiano Zambelli da Bergamo, has lovely inlaid
panels (1536) of an Annunciation and Moses parting the Red Sea. Guido di Francesco, who took over project management after his father's death, built the enclosing choir walls in 1535.
Abbot Giacomo di San Felice da Salò (1591-5) instituted a further programme of re-modelling in the light of post-Tridentine practice. He appointed Valentino Martelli to supervise work on the abbey, a post he held throughout the period 1591-1630. The most important requirement was that the choir monks' choir should be moved from the nave to its current position behind the high altar. The frescoes on the walls (1591), which depict scenes from the lives of SS Peter and Paul, formed part of this re-modelling.
Valentino Martelli designed the present high altar (1592-1608). Perugino’s polyptych was dismantled in 1608 and the altar was re-consecrated in the following year. The altarpiece was later replaced by the present tabernacle (1627-35), which was made in Rome to Martelli's design. The associated silver altar frontal (1627) was taken to France in 1797 and has been replaced by a modern copy.
During these changes, the relics of St Peter Vincioli had a chequered existence.
The erection of the new altar in 1436 necessitated their exhumation, and they were moved to the sacristy when it was built in 1451.
They were then translated back to the high altar in 1591.
They were re-interred for the last time in 1609 under the present high altar.
Nave
The 18 columns in the nave probably originated in ancient Roman buildings, and might have been recovered from the earlier church.
The gilded ceiling (ca. 1554) is the masterpiece of Benedetto da Montepulciano.
SS Peter Vincioli and Benedict (15th century)
The second column of the left is known as the column of the miracle, a
reference to an accident that happened in 966 during construction, when
the column fell and nearly killed a workman. However, St Peter
Vincioli was able to stop it in mid air by making the sign of the
Cross. The column remains asymmetrically mounted on its base. The
column has a fresco (15th century) of St Peter Vincioli and a cross is carved on the capital above.
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Scenes from the life of Christ (1592-1594)
These ten large canvases are arranged above the colonnades in the central aisle. Abbot Giacomo di San Felice da Salò commissioned them from the Greek artist Antonio Vassillachis (Aliense), who painted them in Tintoretto’s studio in Venice.
Each panel depicts a scene from the life of Christ, with another scene from the Old Testament that foreshadows it in the background. The series presents a coherent narrative that is extended by the broadly contemporary frescoes in the apse. This was a response to the climate of the Counter Reformation.
Saints of the Benedictine Order (1592)
Abbot Giacomo di San Felice da Salò also commissioned this huge canvas by Antonio Vassillachis (Aliense), which is on the counter-façade, above the portal.
Right Aisle
In the descriptions below, the bay is defined with reference to the columns between the aisle and the nave.
Madonna and Child with saints (early 16th century)
This altarpiece in the 1st bay, which is attributed to Eusebio di San Giorgio, depicts the Madonna and Child with SS Mary Magdalene and Sebastian.
St. Maurus raising a man from the dead (1648)
This altarpiece by Cesare Sermei is in the 6th bay.
Panels by Salimbeni (1602)
The papal legate, Cardinal Bonifazio Bevilacqua commissioned two panels from Ventura Salimbeni:
the "Punishment of David", in the 7th bay, in which an angel invites David to choose between three punishments because he had taken a census of the nation of Israel, indicating his arrogance; and
the "Vision of St Gregory the Great", in the 9th bay.
Cardinal Bevilacqua was so pleased
that he invested Salimbeni with the Order of the Golden Spur and authorised him to call
himself Cavalieri Bevilacqua.
St Gregory confirms the Benedictine Rule (early 16th century)
This altarpiece in the 8th bay depicts an unhistorical event: Pope Gregory the Great confirms the Rule of St Benedict, who commends his brothers to the Pope. The attribution of the panel to Eusebio di San Giorgio is highly dubious.
The predella contains nine small panels depicting scenes from the martyrdom of St Catherine. Its attribution to Eusebio di San Giorgio is more plausible. Since the subjects of the two parts of the work are unrelated, it seems unlikely that they belong together.
Upper Right Aisle
SS Placidus and Maurus (17th century)
These copies by Giovanni Battista Salvi (Sassoferrato) of two predella panels from Perugino’s San Pietro Polyptych (1496) are over the first door in the upper right aisle (which leads to the monastery). The originals belonged to the polyptych that, as noted above, was removed from the high altar in 1608. The original of St Placidus is now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome; and that of St Maurus is now in the sacristy.
Madonna and Child with saints (16th century)
This panel by the Venetian Bonifacio de’ Pitati of the Madonna and Child with St John the Baptist and a female saint is also over the first door in the upper right aisle (between Sassoferrato’s copies of Perugino’s SS Placidus and Maurus).
Madonna and Child and St John the Baptist (ca. 1661)
These two panels by Gian Domenico Cerrini (il Cavalier Perugino) are on the left. The panels, which may have been given to San Pietro by the artist, depict:
the Madonna breast-feeding the baby Jesus; and
St John the Baptist as a young hermit in the desert.
Although they were listed among works to be sent to the Musei Capitolini, Rome in 1812, it was subsequently decided that they should remain in the church.
The door beyond on the right leads to the sacristy.
Left Aisle
Pietà (1513-23)
This panel, which now forms the altarpiece in the 5th bay, was part of Perugino's Sant' Agostino Polyptych (1502-23), which was painted for the high altar of Sant’ Agostino. It was one of the seven panels from the polyptych that Napoleon's commissioner, Jacques-Pierre Tinet selected
for confiscation in 1797. Antonio Canova recovered it in 1815 and it was
given to the monks of San Pietro. This was in recompense for two panels that were (somewhat dubiously) attributed to Raphael, which had been confiscated from the church by the French in 1797 and subsequently lost (see the page on works of art removed from the church).
The panel depicts the Pietà with the Virgin, St John the Evangelist and Joseph of Arimathea.
Annunciation (17th century)
This altarpiece in the 7th bay is by Giovanni Battista Salvi (Sassoferrato). It was based on a predella panel from Raphael’s Pala Oddi (1503), which was in San Francesco al Prato until 1797 and is now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome.
It was
listed among works to be sent to the Musei Capitolini, Rome in 1812, but it was subsequently
decided that it should remain in the church.
Adoration of the Magi (1508)
This altarpiece in the 9th bay has been associated with a payment from Donna Leonarda Olivieri Baglioni in 1508. It was
listed among works to be sent to the Musei Capitolini, Rome in 1812 (at which time it was attributed to Dono Doni), but it was subsequently
decided that it should remain in the church.
Documentation linking the work to Eusebio di San Giorgio was published in 1906.
Upper Left Aisle
The entrances to the three chapels off the upper left aisle are on your left. These are, respectively:
the Cappella del Sacramento;
the Cappella Ranieri; and
the Cappella Vibi.
Judith and Holofernes (17th century)
This altarpiece by Giovanni Battista Salvi (Sassoferrato) is on the left, between the Cappella del Sacramento and the Cappella Ranieri. It was sent to the Musei Capitolini, Rome in 1812 but returned to the church in 1815.
Deposition (1638)
This panel by Giovanni Battista Salvi (Sassoferrato) is on the left, between the entrances to the Cappella Ranieri and the Cappella Vibi. It is a faithful copy of the main panel of Raphael’s Pala Baglioni (1507), which was removed from San Francesco al Prato in 1608 and is now in the Galleria Borghese, Rome.
Although it was
listed among works to be sent to the Musei Capitolini, Rome in 1812, it was subsequently
decided that it should remain in the church. It was stolen in 1873 but recovered and returned to the church in 1888.
SS Peter and Paul (17th century)
These panels by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Guercino)are on the right.
Christ in the garden (17th century)
This panel by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Guercino) is on the left, beyond Cappella Vibi.
Pietà with saints (1469)
This panel of the Pietà with SS Jerome and Leonard is at the end of the aisle. It is undocumented, but used to carry an inscription that identified its date. It used to be attributed to Benedetto Bonfigli, but has been more recently attributed to Fiorenzo di Lorenzo. If the present attribution is correct, it is one of Fiorenzo’s earliest surviving works.
Monument to Ugolino da Montevibiani (1357)
Ugolino di Nuccio da Montevibiano, who was abbot in the period 1330-57, presided over a period of great prosperity at San Pietro. His marble tombstone, which was designed for the floor above his place of burial, is now in embedded the wall at the end of the aisle, under the Pietà.
Return to the walk around the abbey grounds.