Santa Maria dei Servi – Città della Pieve

The church of Santa Maria dei Servi is located near Porta di Vecciano, just outside the city walls of Città della Pieve. The building dates back to the thirteenth century: the original core was an oratory dedicated to Our Lady of the Star; during the thirteenth century, the Servants of Mary settled here, also building a convent, and in 1343 the original church was finally incorporated into the complex.

The church was originally built in Gothic style architecture, also presenting the elements which were typical in churches built by mendicant orders (single nave, square apse and cross vaults); during the centuries, the entire complex underwent several works of expansion, already starting from the following century, between 1486 and 1487. Historical archives preserve many documents that testify the fruitful activity of the Servants of Mary, active during all the centuries of permanence in this site in the realization of different works to costantly improve the complex.

The various alterations, especially the restoration works dating back to the period between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, radically modified the appearance of the church: today it is a large white room, but of pleasant scenic effect. The bell tower leaning against the building dates back to the nineteenth century.

Interior of the church

After entering the church, on the right side of the nave, it is possible to admire a fresco by Pietro Perugino showing the Deposition from the Cross; extremely fragmentary, it was executed by the painter in a very late period of his activity (1517). A wall septum built by the Servites to reach the organ hasn’t allowed to properly inspect the fresco for a long time; however, the fresco was “freed” around 1880, and during this occasion, it also underwent a first restoration. The very damaged representation of a Lamentation on the body of Christ is on the opposite wall, at the corner with the previous one. Mixing painting and sculpture, Perugino placed, inside a specially made niche, a sculptural group dating back to the first half of the fifteenth century (now placed on the high altar) depicting a Vesperbild (Madonna with the lifeless Christ lying on her knees). The painted group of people, grieving Jesus’ death, originally turned towards the sculpture, creating a scenographic effect.

Above the first altar on the right, a fresco that recalls Perugino’s style depicting the Madonna of the Star between Saints Peter and Sebastian was unearthed after demolishing a part of the Baroque wall.

The high altar, by Mazzuoli, presents on the sides a large altar machine with stucco statues, recalling post-berninian taste, depicting the Blessed Giacomo Villa and the Blessed Matteo Lazzari.

Moreover, some paintings of ecclesiastical property dating back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are preserved in a room covered by a Gothic vault on the lower floor, below the church.

The church, deconsecrated as early as 11 December 1860 due to the Decree of suppression of religious corporations issued by the Royal Commissioner for Umbria, is now part of the city museum circuit. Having suffered structural damage as a result of the earthquake of September, 26 1997, the complex underwent renovation and static consolidation works, which began in 2000 and were completed in 2009, thanks to which it was possible to recover the rooms of the basement, vaulted arches and exposed brick masonry, which houses the Diocesan Civic Museum nowadays. The Museum, structured as a picture gallery, preserves works not only originally present inside the former church but also coming from other churches owned by the municipality and/ or the Diocese of Città della Pieve.