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S. Andrea


[image ALT: The austere façade of a single-story stone church, with a large rectangular door and a small plain circular window above it, both of them edged in contrasting stone or possibly concrete. The door is reached from the street level by two staircases from either side, of about 15 steps. It is the church of S. Andrea in Marcellano, Umbria (central Italy).]

The parish church of S. Andrea has seen many changes since it was built in the late 14c. On the highest point of the little rise that forms the hamlet of Marcellano, it used to sit next to the town's little fort, and was attached to a clump of houses: both these and the rocca are gone, and the church is now free-standing. The building was enlarged in the late 16c and much reworked thruout the 19c until in 1914 the entrance was moved from what is now the right side: the modern façade and door you see here were built at that time.

I haven't been inside yet, but suspect an equally modern appearance here too, since the changes to the interior have been no less drastic. Structurally, the space is roofed by a wooden truss ceiling typical of central Umbria; the main altar is under a stuccoed baldacchino restored in 1832; pairs of pilasters down the side walls form four flat niches that once held altars: the church is not wide enough to accommodate full side chapels. Decoratively, the 1574 visit of an apostolic inspector resulted in the whitewashing of the entire interior, and the last known coat of whitewash was applied for the Jubilee Year of 1950; here and there the earlier frescos are starting to peep thru. The 17c, here as elsewhere, was a time for white walls and new oil paintings: S. Andrea houses several works by the ubiquitous Andrea Polinori or his pupils (see S. Maria at Viepri, just 6 km S of here), as well as a Madonna del Rosario of the same period, very likely similar to this one at Ficulle: the Virgin surrounded by vignettes representing the Fifteen Mysteries. A late‑16c ensemble of wooden choir stalls has left no trace.

The oldest part of S. Andrea seems to be the larger of its bells, dated 1490 and inscribed

+ MENTEM + SANCTAM + SPONTANEAM + HONOREM + DEO + ET + PATRIE +
LIBERATIONEM + D·O·M · PER · AGNOLO · DA · SPOLITI + OPUS · IOANNIS · CENETENSIS +

— a tantalizing inscription on several grounds, not the least of which is the acknowledgment that the bell might ring not only to keep our minds holy by reminding us to honor God, but also "for the freedom of our homeland": conjuring up a late medieval Umbria in which little villages like Marcellano weren't safe from the occasional raid by one of the warring city-states like Todi and Perugia, and in the midst of it all the church was there to defend her people.


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Page updated: 1 Oct 07