via S.Agostino n.28 – Grottammare
The Augustinian complex, comprising the church and the adjoining monastery, occupies the site where an earlier church once stood. In 1451, following a major landslide that affected the northernmost part of the hill, the Augustinian monks moved there from their original site in the suburb of Madonna degli Angeli (formerly Sant\u2019Agostino Vecchio), where there is evidence of an Augustinian church dating back to the 14th century. Construction of the complex began following this move. <\/p>\n\n
The monastery was suppressed by papal bull on 10 April 1653 following a decision by Pope Innocent X, who had ordered the suppression of small monasteries with fewer than six friars: indeed, at the time the Innocentian inventory was drawn up in 1650, the monastery was home to three friars and one lay brother, and therefore did not meet the minimum number required for the maintenance of the building. The entire monastic complex was entrusted to the parish priest of the parish church of St John the Baptist. <\/p>\n\n
Following the unification of Italy, a second abolition was decreed.<\/p>\n\n
The church is an excellent example of the simple, unadorned architecture that characterises most of the local buildings, even the most significant ones. The fa\u00e7ade is linear, devoid of any decorative elements. <\/p>\n\n
It is built using irregular bricks of varying sizes and recycled materials, comprising ancient engraved stones and tombstones bearing fragmentary inscriptions. In the left-hand corner of the fa\u00e7ade, one can see one of the most interesting blocks, bearing an inscription in late-Gothic script that has not yet been deciphered. <\/p>\n\n
Above the entrance portal, there are several majolica basins arranged in the shape of a cross, in accordance with Augustinian custom; unfortunately, they are badly damaged. The fa\u00e7ade is topped by a simple gable roof. <\/p>\n\n
The apse of the church, facing the sea, has a fortified appearance, as is often the case with ancient local churches, which also served as defences against enemy raids: it is crenellated and flanked on the outside by two buttresses.<\/p>\n\n
Next to the apse stands the truncated bell tower, which, according to tradition, was shortened because the convent had hosted the Augustinian monk Martin Luther during his journey to Rome before the Great Schism.<\/p>\n\n
The church has a longitudinal layout, with a single nave covered by a gabled roof supported by wooden trusses. The church has three altars, but documents relating to pastoral visits suggest that it had ten altars in the 17th century. <\/p>\n\n
To the right of the entrance is a fresco\u2014now partially hidden\u2014depicting the Madonna of Mercy. The work may have been an ex-voto offering in thanks for having escaped danger during the 1525 pirate attack on Grottammare and, according to traditional iconography, depicts the Virgin welcoming the faithful under her protective mantle (men on the left and women on the right, although these distinctions are no longer visible). <\/p>\n\n
The fresco, attributed to the workshop of Vincenzo Pagani, bears a dedicatory inscription: \u201cHOC OPUS F(IERI) F(ECIT) VALERIA DE PERO(CTIIS)\/ COPANGNE MCXXVII\u201d (This work was commissioned by Valeria Perotti and her companions in 1527).<\/p>\n\n
On the wall to the right of the entrance, above a niche, you can see the so-called \u201cLunetta della Nativit\u00e0\u201d (Nativity Lunette), a painting in which only the figure of the Virgin Mary is visible in a scene that likely also included the figures of St. Joseph and the Child against a rural landscape background.<\/p>\n\n
This fresco once adorned one of the ten original altars. Immediately following it is the altar commissioned in 1741 by Francesco Palmaroli and adorned with the so-called Pala Palmaroli, which depicts a Sacred Conversation and has recently been attributed to the painter Filippo Ricci (1715\u20131793). <\/p>\n\n
An inscription has been set into the same wall: \u201cHIC REQ.ESCIT COP BEATI PATNIANI\u201d (Here lies the body of St. Paternian), which is believed to have belonged to the ancient rural church of St. Paternian.<\/p>\n\n
The high altar has a very distinctive structure, likely the result of an ancient assembly, given that it has been documented in this location since 1742. A wooden architectural structure in the Baroque style frames two paintings: the upper one, rectangular in shape, depicts a Piet\u00e0 with Saint Nicholas of Bari, while the lower one, oval in shape, depicts the Souls in Purgatory. The altar completely covers the apse behind it, which houses a wooden choir. <\/p>\n\n
Of particular interest is the Via Crucis, a work by the Grottammare-born sculptor Pericle Fazzini (1913\u20131987).<\/p>\n\n
An organ dating from the first half of the 19th century has stood on a platform above the entrance door since 1925. The organ builder, who remains unknown, must certainly be associated with the Venetian neoclassical school, to which the instrument\u2019s style is reminiscent. <\/p>\n\n
On the south side of the church is the convent, which can be accessed directly from the nave or from the entrance on Via S. Agostino.<\/p>\n\n
The convent has a square floor plan and is arranged around a central cloister with round-arched masonry arches resting on rectangular pillars; on the first floor, there are loggias, some of whose arches are now bricked up.<\/p>\n\n
According to the original layout, the ground floor housed the cellar, the stable, the wood shed, the pantry, and the sacristy, while the first floor contained two dormitories, the kitchen, and three single rooms for the senior priests.<\/p>\n\n
The south wing of the convent underwent alterations in 1940, when it was renovated and raised.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6641,"template":"","tipologia-luoghi":[112],"class_list":["post-6640","luoghi","type-luoghi","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tipologia-luoghi-churches"],"bee_custom_fields":{"intro":"","address":"","stelle":"","gallery":[],"immagine_in_evidenza":"https:\/\/www.visitgrottammare.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Particolare-facciata.jpg","fisso":"","mobile":"","fax":"","latitudine":"","longitudine":"","sitoweb":"","email":"","facebook":"","instagram":"","youtube":"","orari":"","audioguida":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitgrottammare.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/luoghi\/6640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitgrottammare.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/luoghi"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitgrottammare.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/luoghi"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitgrottammare.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitgrottammare.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"tipologia-luoghi","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitgrottammare.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tipologia-luoghi?post=6640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}