|
The church of Saint Pietro ad
Muricentum o ad Centumuros (Hundred Wals), is so -called in
the ancient documents because of the imposing structures, belonging to a
Roman villa, which surround it. It lies just outside the village of
Montebuono, on a hill dominated by the Sabine mountains and
overlooking the Tiber valley. Despite numerous
alterations through the centuris, the church still preserves the plan
of the original Romanesque structure which recent restoration work has
brought to light. The laying of a new pavement revealed a series of
rooms, in part reused as ossuaries, which belonged to the Roman villa.
The villa is normally konwn as the "Baths of Agrippa" because of a
fragment of an inscription.The construction of the church included the
re-use of much material of the Roman period. The walls of the villa
were only partly destroyed and therefore mosaics, pavements in opus
spicatum, wall paintings and a cistern have remerged to give a
fascinatingglimpse of some of the rooms belonging to the more
luxurious living quarters of the villa, which was clearly a building
of enormous dimensions. The church of Saint Pietro was built durig the
lively political climate of the twelfth century and is first metioned
in July 1105. In the fifteenth century Saint Pietro was still the main
church of Montebuono, as attested by numerous legaces and the
important series of wall paintings. These were excuted by Jacobo of
Roccantica, a pupil of Ottaviano Nelli, although no longer fully
visible today they still decorate the apse, where one can see a
remarkable Last Judgement, and part of the right nave.
 |