Temple "of Minerva" (1st century BC)

The Temple at the centre of Roman Asisium was probably built soon after the Perusine Wars (41 BC).  Excavations in 1836 revealed that it originally stood some 5 meters above the forum on a terrace that had been established in the previous century.  Access from the forum was via two flights of steps that converged in front of the pronaus.  This substructure is under the present street level can be visted from the Museo Civico.

Impression of the temple above its terrace After P. Gros and D. Theodorescu "Le mur nord du ‘forum' d’Assise" Mélanges de l’Ecole Française d’ Athéne et Rome 97 (1985) 879-897

The holes that held bronze lettering across the architrave of the Temple have made it possible to deduce the form of an inscription that recorded the names of the brothers who built it:

• Cn(aeus) Caesius Tiro; and

• T(itus) Caesius Priscus, the sons of Cn(aeus). 

The tradition that the Temple was dedicated to Minerva arose in the 16th century, when a statue of a seated goddess (1st century BC) presumed to be Minerva was found under the Piazza.  The earliest surviving documentary evidence of this dedication dates to 1595.

In fact, the excavations of 1836 revealed the existence other statues that belonged to the complex (now in the Museo Civico, along with the presumed statue of Minerva).  These suggest a number of possible dedications.  In particular, the inscription on the tetrastyle in front of the Temple revealed that it had housed statues of Castor and Pollux: it is possible that the Caesii brothers were twins and that they dedicated the Temple to these twin divinities.

The Temple seems to have been modelled on the Temple of Divus Julius (42-29 BC), which the Emperor Augustus built in the forum of Rome in honour of the deified Julius Caesar.  The Caesii brothers probably adopted this design as a means of ingratiating themselves with Augustus.

The use of temples for the celebration of pagan rites became illegal in 341, and it is likely that the building then fell into disuse until its conversion (perhaps as early as the 6th century) into a church (see below).

Andrea Palladio studied the remains of the Temple and included it in his "I Quattro Libri dell’ Architettura" (1570).  He commented on the unusual fact that the columns rest on pedestals with steps betweeen them.  (In fact, the Temple of Divus Julius shared this characteristic).

Goethe, who visited Assisi in 1786, recorded: "From reading Palladio … I knew there was a Temple of Minerva [in Assisi], built during the reign of Augustus and still perfectly preserved.  When we got near Madonna degli Angeli, I … climbed the road to Assisi on foot. …  I turned away in distaste from [San Francesco and went instead to Santa] Maria della Minerva … Lo and behold!- there it stood, the first complete classical monument I have seen.  A modest temple, just right for such a small town, yet so perfect in design that it would be an ornament anywhere. … One could never tire of looking at the facade and admiring the logical procedure of the architect.  …  I cannot describe the sensations that this work aroused in me, but I know they are going to bear fruit for ever.” 

San Donato

The earliest surviving documentary reference to the Temple dates to 1212, by which time it had been adapted as the church of San Donato.  In the 1212 document, the newly-formed Commune acquired it from Abbot Maccabeo of San Benedetto. 

From this point, the Consuls used a room over the cella for their meetings and another above the pronaus as a law court.  The ex-church served as a prison until 1456, when it was re-opened as a church dedicated to SS Donato e Bernardino.  The Commune restored the church in the period 1527-30.

Santa Maria sopra Minerva

Pope Paul III re-dedicated the church as Santa Maria sopra Minerva in 1539, and the Fraternita della Madonna moved here from San Nicolò soon after.  When they left in 1612, Bishop Marcello Crescenzi transferred the church to the Franciscan Third Order.  In 1758, the Franciscans sold it to the Oratorians, while they concentrated their activities at their other convent at Sant’ Antonio di Padova. 

The Oratorians demolished the building above the pronaus, restoring the façade to something like its original appearance.  They were expelled from Santa Maria sopra Minerva in 1810, and the complex then passed to the secular clergy. 

In 1918, the church and convent passed back to the Franciscan Third Order and became known as the Convento di Sant’ Antonio (since the community had been concentrated at Sant’ Antonio di Padova throughout the period 1758-1860). 

Original Fabric of the Temple

The façade of the Temple, with its six closely spaced Corinthian columns, is one of the best preserved of its kind in Italy.  As noted above, the pedestals of the columns originally rested on a terrace wall some 5 metres high, and flights of steps to each side allowed access from the forum.  These steps emerged in the pronaus, which originally had two further columns on each side. These side columns, which are visible in Andrea Palladio’s drawing in "I Quattro Libri dell’ Architettura" have been destroyed, along with the original paving and coffered ceiling of the pronaus.

The lateral walls of the Temple survive, although they are not visible from the interior.  (The left wall can be seen from the inner courtyard of the Convento di Sant’ Antonio at number 2 Via San Paolo, which is sometimes open for exhibitions).  The back wall was demolished in 1634 (see below).

Church Interior

Image copyright © William P. Thayer

The interior of the church owes its present appearance largely to the remodelling of Giacomo Giorgetti, who extended the church backwards and built a new barrel vault in 1634.  He also designed the high altar, which is mostly made from gilded stucco. 

The Oratorians installed the side altars and the present vaulted ceiling in the 1760s.  They also removed the original altarpiece and a number of statues and installed the present figures of SS Peter and Paul to the sides. 

The Latin inscription on the altar wall translates:

• “This glorious Temple, once dedicated to Minerva, the goddess of false wisdom [is now consecrated] to the Mother of true wisdom”. 

The Oratorians moved it from the high altar in the 18th century and put another inscription in its place.  This translates:

• “To the great and omnipotent God in honour of the Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of true wisdom, and of St Philip Neri”. 

Read more:

J. Stamper, "The Architecture of Roman Temples", Cambridge (2005)
  See page 109 for an illustration of the Temple of Divus Julius.
R. Tavernor and R. Schofield (Tr.), "Andrea Palladio: the Four Books on Architecture", Cambridge, Mass. (2002)
F. Coarelli, "Assisi Repubblicana: Riflessioni su un Caso di Autoromianzzione", Atti Accademia Properziana del Subasio, Assisi (1991)
W. H. Auden and E. Mayer (Tr.), “Johann Wolfgang Goethe: Italian Journey”, London (1962)

The LacusCurtius site of the Temple has interesting additional information on its architecture and on the Roman inscriptions in the pronaus.