Sanctuary of Madonna delle Lacrime – Trevi
According to the tradition, on the evening of Friday, August 5, 1485, the image of a Madonna with Child, frescoed by a local artist on the facade of Diotallevi’s house, in Trevi, started crying tears of blood. The miraculous news passes from house to house and then from country to country, generating a strong interest and a great devotion of pilgrims who begin to visit the place. The Municipality of Trevi initially protects the holy icon with a canopy; thanks to the large alms and numerous legacies, it is then decided to build a proper sanctuary, entitled to the “Madonna delle Lacrime”, replacing the original house. The construction of the structure, designed by the architect Francesco di Pietrasanta, began in 1487; the works ended in 1522, when the floor was executed. While the works were still in progress, in 1488, the citizens of the village of Bovara acquired the rights to have a chapel in the church, that will be frescoed by Perugino many years later.
On the outside, the facade of the church was built in two different materials: in 1500, when only part of the church had been built, the Canons Regular Lateran moved to the Sanctuary, and completed it using bricks, which they also used for their monastery.
Since 2006 the place of worship has been permanently accessible to the public, following the numerous consolidation works carried out following the earthquake that occured in 1997.
Interior of the church
The church, with a Latin cross plan covered by cross vaults, for the brightness of the environments and the harmony between architectural space and works of art is considered one of the Renaissance pearls of Umbria.
The side chapels, in the form of aedicules, were decorated at different times. Starting from the end of the sixteenth century, the church has housed the monumental burials of the most eminent members of the noble Trevi family Valenti, alternating with the decorated chapels.
The right wall houses the Chapel of Saint Ubaldo, decorated by the Angelucci da Mevale workshop in the second half of the sixteenth century;
after that, the Chapel acquired by the inhabitants of Bovara and frescoed by Perugino at the age of 76, in 1522, with a beautiful Adoration of the Magi, Ss. Peter and Paul, the Annunciation, and elegant friezes. The coat of arms of the Valenti family was also affixed in this chapel, during the seventeenth century.
The large altar of the right transept, rebuilt around 1621 by the Benenati-Piccolomini family, heir of Cardinal Erminio Valenti, preserve the miraculous fresco depicting the Madonna and Child.
On the right, the Chapel dedicated to Saint Carlo Borromeo preserves a seventeenth-century canvas; on the other side there is the Chapel of Saint Francis decorated by John of Peter known as Lo Spagna in 1520: the painter depicted a Transport of Christ to the tomb with St. Augustine, the portraits of the Lateran Canons and angels with figures of Saints, on the sides Saint Joseph and Saint Ubaldo, in the segments the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. The setting of the central scene was influenced the Deposition by Raphael, which was still preserved at the church of San Francesco al Prato in Perugia at the time, and attests the importance of the Master in local Renaissance painting.
The left wall presents the chapel of the Resurrection, frescoed by Orazio Alfani; the two external candlesticks representing demons and damned souls recalls Signorelli’s style in the Cathedral of Orvieto.
Finally, the Chapel of Saint Alfonso, formerly dedicated to Saint Catherine and under the patronage of Tiberius Valenti, was repainted in 1741 by the Lateran Canons and provided with a mediocre canvas depicting the new patron saint.
