Carbognano, Church of San Pietro – Cathedral

The work to erect this church began in 1780 as part of the celebrations in honor of Saint Peter the Apostle. The Church was eventually finished in the early nineteenth century. The interiors are divided into a large central nave and two aisles. Each aisle features three chapels decorated with valuable pieces of art. Behind the altar, visitors can admire a picture of Jesus, surrounded by the apostles, in the act of giving Saint Peter the Keys of Heaven.

THE HISTORY

The Church of St. Peter the Apostle, recently renovated (2010), was designed in 1779 by the architect Venanzio Rubini from Rome. The first stone was laid on the occasion of the feast of St. Peter in 1780, as evidenced by a marble cube in the first chapel on the right side of the church. On the initiative of the princess Vittoria Salviati Colonna di Sciarra who donated 2000 ducats and then by her son Giulio Cesare Colonna Barberini (as in the epigraph on the facade of the Church), the construction of the new church of St. Peter was started.  Rubini was succeeded in 1782 by Giuseppe Soli, master of architecture at the University of Modena, and in 1791 he was succeeded by the architect Giuseppe Angela Santini. In the place where the church stands today there were then five houses, a cellar and a stable, as evidenced by an ancient document, it was the then parish priest Don Giannoni, who bought the land with its buildings for 1055 scudi and 52 baiocchi through the mediation of Prince Don Giulio Cesare Colonna Barberini. The construction of the church was interrupted when the walls of the church had reached the impost of the nave and the tribune, and then resume only in 1785 when they found the money needed for its continuation. The completion of the works took place only in 1796 with the paving in bricks of the interior, while only in 1831 the paving of the portico took place. The officialization dates back to the beginning of 1800, even if it was only in 1819 that Pope Pius VII granted it the dignity of Collegiate Church. According to the original project, the statues of Saints Peter and Paul, Saint Eutizio and Saint Filippo Neri were to be placed above the portico, one statue for each column, but evidently due to a lack of means, the project had to be changed. The statues were no longer placed in their place and the tympanum above the façade was narrowed to make room for the two lateral bell towers, not provided for in the original design. Today two of these statues are still preserved in the garden in front of the castle kitchens. 

THE EXTERIOR

It is imposing on the opposite square of the Municipality with a pronaos in antis characterized by 4 big ionic columns. A portal with two side doors is surmounted by an epigraph that reports: “DOM/IULIUS CAESAR PRAENESTINORUM/ ET CARBONEANI PRINCEPS/ EROGATIS DUOBUS AVREORVM MILLIBVS QUAE PIENTISSIMA EIUS MATER VICTORIA SALVIATI COLUMNA AD SARTA TECTA PAROCHIALIS ECCLESIAE S PETRI/ VI INSTANTE FATISCENTIS TESTAMENTO LEGAVERAT TOTI DEM QUE COLLATIS/ QUA EX EIUSDEM PECUNIA VSVRIS MINISTERIO PRIMVM PROSPERI COLUMNA S. R. E. CARD/IPSVS FRATRES DEINDE SVO CORROGATA FUERE/ DISIECTIS DOMIRVS IRRETIO EPTIS AD AREAM NOVA MOLITIONIS APERIENDAM/ HOC TEMPLUM DIVINI CULTUS NIDORI ET POPVLI COMMODITATE/ A FUNDAMENTIS EXPLETANDUM CVRAVIT/ AN SALES MDCCXL The entablature of the portico bears an inscription that refers to the title of the church: “DIVO PETRO APOSTULORUM PRINCIP”. Above the roof of the portico is a tympanum decorated with a large clypeus inside which stands out the effigy of Saint Peter giving his blessing, while externally arranged in a heraldic position are the keys of the Church and cords. Two symmetrical bell towers of square section close the architecture at the top. The bells are still in situ.

THE INTERIOR

Entering the Church, one finds oneself in front of a large nave, 28.10 meters long and 10.20 meters wide, in Roman basilican style with six side chapels, 2.095 meters deep, three on each side, communicating with each other. The apse or tribune, 8.40 meters deep and 6.80 meters wide, has two small cores on both sides, slightly protruding at the top, like an ambo. The bowl of the apse is a coffered perspective as those of the Pantheon in Rome. The high altar, all in marble, was finished in 1857 by the Roman stonemason Gioacchino Pizzicheria, at the expense of the Confraternity of the Sacrament, the Hospital of St. Anthony and the City. It was solemnly consecrated by Monsignor Agostino Mattia Mengacci, bishop of Civita Castellana, on May 24th 1857. The travertine balustrade was made by Don Pietro Crescenzi in 1830. In the wall of the counter-façade the choir loft, inside which is placed a pipe organ perfectly working of unknown author dating back to the eighteenth century. The present floor, wanted by the archpriest don Gaetano Lazzari in his twenty-fifth anniversary of priesthood, was made of tiles in 1930. The 3 chapels on each side are communicating with each other, all in the same style, in unison with that of the church, characterized by a sober decoration dating back to the early years of the last century, consisting of paintings reproducing different motifs that cover the pilasters (from the Ionic capitals).

In the first chapel on the left, the Madonna della Tegola (Our Lady of the Tile) can be seen in a beautiful golden wooden frame. It is a Madonna and Child made in a remote age (XVI century. measures cm. 50 x 95), painted on a tile, once placed to decorate a gate (F.Martinelli, Carbognano illustrato, Ristampa anastatica, 2016, p. 41). Because of the many miracles used since ancient times, the painted tile was carried in procession and placed initially at the church of San Filippo (1628), and there it remained in the first chapel on the left until the new church of San Pietro was inaugurated (1812). Since then it was transferred to the place where it is still on display. In the same chapel on the left side there is a canvas with the Virgin on the throne with St. Elizabeth, Child and St. John (measures cm. 90 x 100), datable to the seventeenth century. Oil on canvas. On the right wall there is a canvas with the Virgin with Child, San Giovannino and Sant’Anna. 

In the second chapel on the left there is a canvas with Saint Joseph (size 219 x 250 cm.). Dating XVII century. On the left wall the Flight into Egypt of Mary with Joseph and the Child (20th century). Work painted in tempera on wall. On the right wall, the Beheading of Saint John . The historian Renzo Innocenzi tells us that this canvas, datable to the 16th century, was once in the church of Santa Maria, probably decorating the altar dedicated to San Giovanni Decollato. 

The last chapel of the left side (the third one), preserves as decoration of the altar a Madonna of the Rosary. The Virgin on the throne with the Child is represented between San Domenico (left) and Santa Caterina (right). The work was realized by Thephilus Carosius in 1896. Oil on canvas (measures cm. 200250.  The main representation is surrounded by 15 panels representing the Mysteries of the Rosary. In the right wall an Annunciation painted in tempera on wall (XX century). On the left wall Saint Anne and the Virgin Child. Tempera XX century. 

To decorate the high altar in the tribune there is a canvas with the Delivery of the keys to Saint Peter. The oil on canvas (cm 200 x 230) represents the delivery of the keys of the Church to Saint Peter by Christ surrounded by the apostles. Work referable to the XVI/XVII century. The scroll reads: “tibi dado claves regni coelorum”, that is “I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven” (Mt. XVI, 19). The work is located behind the altar on the apse wall and is enclosed in a large stucco frame. All the decoration of the vault, the apse and the chapels dates back to 1910.

In the first chapel on the right, decorating the altar, there is a canvas with Cardinal Borromeo kneeling in prayer. Oil on canvas, XIX century (cm. 200 x 250). In the right side of the chapel there is a small canvas with the Delivery of the keys to Saint Peter. XVIIth century. Oil on canvas (cm. 120 x 200). On the opposite wall there is another small canvas depicting the Madonna on the Throne with Child between Saint Francis (left) and Saint Jerome (right). Oil on canvas (cm. 120 x 200), datable between the XVI/XVII century. At the base of the altar inside an iron gate there is a baptismal font of the XVIII century. 

The following chapel (second chapel on the right), has on the altar the canvas with the Glory of Saint Eutizio where Saint Eutizio is represented between Saint Gratiliano (left) and Saint Felicissima (right). (Oil on canvas – cm. 200 x 250). The following chapel (second chapel on the right), has on the altar the canvas with the Glory of Saint Eutizio where Saint Eutizio is represented between Saint Gratiliano (left), and Saint Felicissima (right). (Oil on canvas – cm. 200 x 250). The canvas comes from the church of Santa Maria where it was placed on the high altar. The work was made at the time of Maria Sforza Attendoli Colonna (about 1780), when she had the high altar rebuilt (R. Innocenti, Carbognano, 2001. p. 19). On the left wall of the chapel the Miracle of Saint Eutizio, beginning of the 20th century (cm 120 x 180). Tempera. On the right wall The Martyrdom of Saint Eutizio, a work made at the beginning of the 20th century (180 x 120 cm). 

The third and last chapel on the right has a Crucifixion with St. John and the Virgin Mary on the altar. Oil on canvas. End of XIX century. Size (cm. 210 x 250). In the left wall a tempera reproduces Saint Lucy (20th century), and in the right wall Saint Francis receives the body of Christ at the feet of the Crucifix (20th century). Through a work coordinated by Maria Rita Mechelli, Girolamo Pesciaroli and Rita Rossetti, carried out by the 3rd year of the state middle school of Carbognano, we know that in 1994 several works were kept in the sacristy: An oil on canvas (31 x 40 cm). Depicting the Holy Family. XVIII century. An oil on canvas Saint Cristina. Oil on canvas XIX century (cm 35 x 45). An oil on canvas (cm 40 x 30), dated 19th century depicting Christ Mocked Oil on Canvas. An oil on canvas Saint Emidio Bishop. Oil on canvas XVIII century. (cm 44 x 55). One oil on canvas Saint Anthony Abbot.Oil on Canvas. XIX century.(cm 50 x 60). Saint Joseph and the Child. Oil on canvas (cm. 46 x 55). XIX century.

ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

V. ARAMINI Sicut Archivium inventum fuit”. Gli archivi ecclesiastici di Carbognano (Viterbo). Nuovo ordinamento ed inventariazione infomatizzata. Tesi di Laurea, Facoltà dell’Università degli Studi della Tuscia di Viterbo, a.a. 2005/2006. R. 

CECCARELLI – O. TARTARINI, Carbognano, ieri, oggi e domani. 1940. 

V. D’ARCANGELI, Carbognano in Tuscia Viterbese. Roma 1968. 

R. INNOCENTI, Carbognano. Viterbo 2001. 

E. MARCHETTI, Cesare Baronio promotore della riforma del Carmelo Scalzo, in L. Gulia [edited by], Baronio e le sue fonti, Sora 2009, pp. 765-787.

F. MARTINELLI, Carbognano illustrato dal signor Fioravante Martinelli. Roma, 1694. 

M. R. MECHELLI- G.PESCIAROLIi- R. ROSSETTI, Carbognano chiese di S. Pietro e S. Anna. Repertorio dei Dipinti su tela. A.A. 1993/1994. 3° A Scuola Media Statale di Carbognano. G. 

SILVESTRELLI, Città e castelli e terre della regione romana. Roma, 1940.