San Fortunato, Todi

Facade with access staircases.
Church seen from above town.
Interior towards apse with gothic tracery.

San Fortunato is a Gothic- and Renaissance-style, Roman Catholic church in the center of Todi, province of Perugia, region of Umbria, Italy.

History

It was built likely at the site of a prior Ancient Roman hill-top temple. It later hosted a shrine to the martyr San Cassiano.

However, the acquisition of the relics of San Fortunato made the church a site for his veneration. A Benedictine monastery became attached to the church by the 1100s, and the church was expanded, creating altars dedicated to the Saints Fortunato (6th century saint), Cassiano, and John the Baptist, consecrated by Pope Innocent III in 1198.

The church was acquired by the Franciscan order by 1292, and led to the construction of the church building we see today. The facade, only half complete, was designed in the first half of the 15th century by Giovanni di Santuccio of Firenzuola. Built from 1295 to 1460, the church has a Gothic central portal (1415-1458), with richly decorated spiraling pilasters, leafy and animal details, and depictions a saints and apostles. The sculptures flanking the portal are attributed to followers of Jacopo della Quercia. The portal is reached through elaborate levels of stairs. The interior has a nave divided from the aisles by compound piers. The vault displays gothic tracery, and the apse has tall lancet windows.[1]

The interior has fragments of frescoes by Masolino da Panicale, depicting a Madonna and child with Angels (1432). In the Cappella Gregoriana is an altarpiece (1618) by Andrea Polinori. It has frescoes (1400) by Niccolò di Vannuccio. The chapel also has wooden choir stalls with intaglio (1590) by Antonio Maffei (1590). The Cappella dell'Assunta in the left nave was frescoed by Andrea Polinori.[2] The crypt has a tomb of the locally revered, but not beatified, 13th-century mystic and poet Jacopone da Todi.[3]

There is also a San Fortunato church in Covignano, province of Rimini.[4][5]

Coordinates: 42°46′49.05″N 12°24′21.06″E / 42.7802917°N 12.4058500°E / 42.7802917; 12.4058500

References

  1. ↑ Visitodi website, european union tourism site].
  2. ↑ Medioevo In Umbria website, entry on church.
  3. ↑ Touring Club of Italy, entry on church.
  4. ↑ Diocese of Rimini.
  5. ↑ Visitodi website.
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