San Giuliano (12th century)



This church is traditionally associated with St Isaac, who founded a hermitage on Monteluco early in the 6th century.  A noble lady called Gregoria, whom St Isaac helped to become a nun,  provided some of the information of an account of events in the life of St Isaac in the Dialogues of Pope Gregory I.  According to tradition, she provided the land on which he built San Giuliano for the communal services of the hermits.  He was subsequently buried in the church.

The earliest surviving references to the monastery are in two letters of Pope Pelagius I, written shortly after St Isaac's death.

The complex subsequently passed to the Benedictines, who built the present church in the 12th century.  The monastery enjoyed a long period of prestige.  A diploma (1185) from Pope Urban III confirmed its possessions, which included the monastery of St Isaac "in civitate Spoletana" (now Sant' Ansano). 

In 1239, Pope Gregory IX placed the monastery under the jurisdiction of the Cistercian Abbazia di Chiaravalle in order to effect its reform.  It first appears in the archives of Chiaravalle in 1256.  Later entries point to a series of disputes.  The abbots of San Giuliano and Chiaravalle finally acepted the arbitration of Cardinal John of Toledo in 1266, and he ruled in favour of the latter.

The community had fallen into decadence by the late 15th century.  It was suppressed in 1502 and the monastery and its possessions were given to the Lateran Canons.  However, they preferred to live at Sant' Ansano, and San Giuliano was abandoned.  It passed into private hands in the 19th century but the intervention of Giuseppe Sordini in the early 20th century led to its acquisition by the Commune.

(The adjacent pizzeria used to hold the key, but on my last visit in June 2008 the church was closed for restoration).

Exterior

The facade of the church has lost its upper part. 

A relief (6th century) incorporated into the portal probably came from the original church.

Interior

The interior is in the form of a nave and two aisles, which culminate in an apse and two apsidal chapels.

An inscription (12th century) on the third column on the right records that Nicolò Bacarelli initiated a programme of restoration when he donated five columns to the church.  This probably refers to the reconstruction of the colonnade between the nave and the right aisle: the other colonnade was probably reconstructed later in the 12th  century.

Coronation of the Virgin and Benedictine saints (1442)

Abbot Argento Campello commissioned these frescoes in the apse, which are attributed to Maestro di Eggi.  The saints in the lower register are: Blessed Gregoria, who holds the document in which she trannsferred her property here to St Isaac; SS Isaac, Maurus, Benedict, Placidus, Julian and (probably) Scholstica.

Scenes from the life of St Isaac (15th century)

These damaged frescoes, which depict four scenes from the life of St Isaac, are on the presbytery walls.

Crypt

Of greatest interest is the crypt, which probably formed part of the ancient church.  St Isaac was initially buried here, and his relics were subsequently translated into a fine sarcophagus (12th century) that was translated to Sant' Ansano in 1502.   (The relics and their sarcophagus were originally in what is now the crypt of Sant' Isacco.  After a series of moves in the 19th century, during which the relics and the sarcophagus were separated:

  • the relics are once more in the crypt of Sant' Isacco, in a copy of the sarcophagus: and
Return to Walk III.