Situated on a hill at the crossroads of two roads, the Church of Santa Maria del Giglio was built around an ancient Marian shrine, perhaps built on an Etruscan place of worship. Tradition has it that the church took the name "del Giglio" during the domination of the Sforza family, because of the lily in their coat of arms or in memory of the apparition of the Madonna with a lily in her hand to a shepherdess, which occurred on April 27, as recalled by the Municipal Statutes of 1734.
The original building was a simple chapel, of which a fresco of the Madonna and Child remains in a niche at the back of the church, dating back to between the 13th and 14th centuries. The main expansion dates back to 1523, the year in which the façade is believed to have also been built. In 1563 Paolo I Sforza completed the structure and added travertine decorations: a beautiful portal, two windows and a rose window, as well as frescoes attributed to the Zuccari school .
Damages, restorations and surviving works
The 1919 earthquake seriously damaged the church and its two frescoed side altars. Today the altar of San Michele Arcangelo (16th century) remains visible, on the right of the entrance. After the restorations of the 20th century, the following are still present inside:
in the presbytery, a fresco with the Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin with the Apostles (16th century);
on the right, a Last Judgement (16th century);
on the left, the figure of a warrior and other contemporary pictorial fragments;
on the right wall, a Madonna and Child from the 15th century;
in the sacristy, a large fresco with the Deposition of Jesus from the Cross (16th century).
A link with the ancient village
Next to the presbytery, adjacent to the ancient walls of the Castrum, there is a passage that leads to a sort of cave. According to some hypotheses, it could be an underground connection with the overlying Church of San Martino.
Today, the Church of Santa Maria del Giglio remains a place rich in spirituality and memory, linked to popular traditions and the landscape of Proceno.
Where
QR6J+3W, 01020 Proceno VT, Italia
