Madonna delle Lacrime (1487-1510)


A house here, beside the road leading to Spoleto, belonged to a certain Diotallevio d' Antonio in the 15th century.  He commissioned a fresco on the outside wall from a local painter.  It depicted the Madonna and Child with St Francis and was dated by inscription to 3rd October, 1483.

The image became an object of particular veneration in 1485, when the Madonna was seen to weep tears of blood.  Miracles were attributed to it and the Commune used the associated pious gifts to finance a chapel to protect it.  Work then began on the construction of the present church, which was originally given to an Olivetan community.  It was still incomplete in 1500, when it was taken over by Lateran  Canons.

The church was badly damaged in the earthquake of 1703 and restored in 1733.

Exterior


The fine portal (1495) is by Giovanni di Giampietro da Venezia. 

Interior 


The Renaissance interior is in the form of a Latin cross.  The side chapels belong to the original design.  A number of monuments (16th and 17th centuries) of members of the Valenti family were subsequently erected between them (see below). 

Cappella di Sant’ Ubaldo 

This chapel (the 1st on the right), which must have been dedicated after 1500 (since St Ubaldus was claimed by the Lateran Canons who acquired the church at that date), was conceded to Pier Costanzo Ricci 1566. 

Frescoes (late 16th century) 

These frescoes, which were financed according to the will of Pier Costanzo Ricci, are attributed to Gaspare and Camillo Angelucci da Mevale.  They depict:

  • the Annunciation;
  • St Ubaldus and four stories from his life;
  • SS John the Baptist and Antony of Padua;
  • God the father; and
  • four scenes from the life of the Virgin (the Nativity, the marriage of the Virgin, the flight into Egypt and the Visitation).

Cappella dei Magi 

This chapel (the 2nd on the right) was conceded to the people of Bovara in 1488, while the church was in construction, in return for their financial contribution.   The chapel was conceded to Giacomo Valenti in 1679 and confirmed as a possession of his heirs in 1729.

Adoration of the Magi (1521)

The people of Bovara commissioned the frescoes in this chapel from the aged Perugino. The main scene of the Adoration of the Magi, which is signed, is set in a fictive Renaissance frame, with:

  • the figures of the Annunciation in tondi in the arch above; and
  • figures of SS Peter and Paul in painted niches to the sides. 

Altare della Madonna della Lacrime (1621) 

When Cardinal Erminio Valenti died in 1621, his heirs, Pompeo and Francesco Benatti-Piccolomini, erected this Baroque altar in the right transept to house the venerated fresco of the Madanna delle Lacrime (see below).   The monument to Cardinal Valenti is on the left wall (see below).

Madonna della Lacrime (1493) 

The miraculous image for which the church was built now forms the altarpiece of this altar. 






High Altar 

The high altar was conceded to Giacomo Valenti in 1683 and rebuilt using fragments of an ancient ciborium in the form of a temple between adoring angels.  The present arrangement dates to 1984. 

Cappella di San Carlo Borromeo

This chapel (on the right of the left transept), which was originally dedicated to SS Roch, Antony [of Padua?] and Sebastian, was re-dedicated soon after the canonisation of St Charles Borromeo. 

Cappella di San Francesco 

This chapel is on the left wall of the left transept.

Frescoes (1518-20) 

These frescoes were commissioned from Giovanni di Pietro, Lo Spagna in accordance with the will of Dioteguardi di Antonio Bartoluzzi (died 1503). 

  • The main panel of the Deposition is based on Raphael’s Pala Oddi (ca. 1503), which was originally in San Francesco al Prato, Perugia.
  • Figures of SS Ubaldus and Joseph (with his flowering staff) are on the side walls.
  • The lunette contains a figure of St Augustine with kneeling figures in white habits, presumably those of the Lateran Canons. 

Cappella di Sant’ Alfonso 

This chapel (the 2nd on the left), which was originally dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria, belonged to Tiberio Valenti (died 1566).  The Lateran Canons rededicated and redecorated it in 1741.  Two panels (ca. 1520) from the chapel, which depict SS Catherine and Cecilia, are now in the Pinacoteca.

Cappella della Resurrezione  

This chapel (the 1st on the left) was conceded to Benedetto Valenti (died 1541) in ca. 1530.   Its original altarpiece (early 16th century) of the Pietà is now in the Pinacoteca.

Monuments of the Valenti Family

  
Monument (1620) to
Cardinal Erminio Valenti
(left wall of the right transept)		 Monument (1588) to
Monte Valenti
(left wall)


These monuments, on the walls between the side chapels, commemorate (from the right:

  • Romolo Valenti (1579) (on the counter-facade);

  • Filippo Valenti (17th century);

  • Filiberto Valenti (1624);

  • Cardinal Erminio Valenti (1620) (on the left wall of the right transept);

  • Monte Valenti (1588);

  • Subrezia Lucarini Valenti (1562-8); and

  • Benedetto Valenti an Felicita Petrelli (1541).

The painted decoration of the last three is by the Angelucci da Mevale.

Return to Detour I.