The Church of Santa Maria di Montedoro (anciently called Monte Moro) is a religious building in

Montefiascone Montefiascone is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Viterbo, in Lazio, central Italy. It stands on a hill on the southeast side of Lake Bolsena, about north of Rome. History The name of the city derives from that of the Falisci (''Mons ...

, central

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, located at the foot of a hill, three kilometres from the city, on the Strada Verentana.

History

Its plan was started by

Antonio da Sangallo the Younger 250px, A model of the Apostolic Palace, which was the main project of Bramante during Sangallo's apprenticeship. 250px, The church of Santa Maria di Loreto near the 250px">The 250px, 250px, View of St. Patrick's Well in Orvieto. Antonio da ...

while he was busy in the restoration of the Palazzo Papale in Montefiascone, commissioned by

Pope Leo X Pope Leo X ( it, Leone X; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521. Born into the prominent political an ...

. The project of this church saw initially economical impediments because of a severe plague in 1523, and was later completed by architect Pietro Tartarino. Crocifissione

Description

It is an octagonal temple, joined to a semi-circular choir, 21 meters long. In the six corners of the octagon there are rectangular semicolumns with Doric capitals, above which is a beam of mouldings. In the middle of each side there are windows, some of which are closed. Above the windows is the

tholobate In architecture, a tholobate (from el, θολοβάτης, tholobates, dome pedestal) or drum is the upright part of a building on which a dome is raised. It is generally in the shape of a cylinder or a polygonal prism. In the earlier Byzanti ...

; above it tholobate rises a rough wall that hides the small dome erected on the same tholobate. The church can be accessed through two doors: the interior houses there are five chapels and the large semicircular chapel of the altar. The chapels have frescoes depicting the ''

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Cartha ...

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

'', the ''

Resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, whic ...

''and the '' Madonna with Child''. {{coord missing, Italy Maria di Montedoro Octagonal churches in Italy Renaissance architecture in Lazio 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy