San Maria della Pace is a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

-style,

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Marian sanctuary A shrine to the Virgin Mary, or Marian shrine, is a shrine marking an Marian apparitions, apparition or other miracle ascribed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or a site on which is centered a historically strong Blessed Virgin Mary, Marian devotion ...

-church and convent in the town of

Massa Martana Massa Martana (near the well attested ancient site of the ''Vicus Martis Tudertium'' on the Via Flaminia) is an ancient Italian town and ''comune'' in the Monti Martani mountain range in the province of Perugia (Umbria). It is 10 km N o ...

province of Perugia The province of Perugia () is the larger of the two provinces in the Umbria region of Italy, comprising two-thirds of both the area and population of the region. Its capital is the city of Perugia. The province covered all of Umbria until 1927, w ...

Umbria Umbria ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region of central Italy. It includes Lake Trasimeno and Cascata delle Marmore, Marmore Falls, and is crossed by the Tiber. It is the only landlocked region on the Italian Peninsula, Apennine Peninsula. The re ...

, Italy. The former convent building also houses part of the town library and archive system.

History

The church was built during 1521-1589 along the pilgrimage route of the

via Flaminia The Via Flaminia () was an ancient Roman roads, Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to ''Ariminum'' (Rimini) on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and due to the ruggedness of the mountains was the major option the Romans had f ...

. Putatively part of the design is attributed to the painter

Andrea Polinori Andrea Polinori (1586 – 1648) was an Italians, Italian painter active in a Baroque art, Baroque-style mainly in his native city of Todi in Umbria. Biography He was born in Todi. He spent a formative period circa 1615 in Rome. He is describe ...

. The church, like many sanctuaries of this type, consolidated outside of the town around a roadside aedicule depicting a 15th-century image of the ''Madonna lactating between St John the Baptist and St James''. The sanctuary was associated with the Franciscans of the third order of St Francis. The church has a centralized octagonal plan influenced in 1600. The cupola was densely frescoed (1647-1649) by Polinori with scenes from the old and new testament of the bible, as well as apostles, saints and angelic musicians. Among the other works in the church are an altarpiece depicting ''St Charles Borromeo in adoration of the Crucifix'' (1612) behind main altar; a ''St Francis assigning the cintola to the third order of Franciscans'' (1613) in second altar on right; a ''St Francis in prayer'' by Pietro Paolo Sensini; and a ''Virgin in prayer'' in the style of

Andrea Barbiani Andrea Barbiani (1708–1779) was an Italian painter of the 18th century, mainly active in Ravenna and Rimini Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situate ...

.Eborghi
entry on Sanctuary.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria della Pace Massa Martana Churches in Massa Martana 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Octagonal churches in Italy