The Benedictine monks, of whom there is mention in a will of 1301, began to increase in numbers in the city from 1388. The sandstone portal, on the imposing main facade, shows the keys of Saint Peter, carved in bas relief over the door.
Inside, the church has a single nave, covered by a barrel vaulted ceiling which is divided up with vaulted arches and an impressive triumphal arch. Gaetano Lapis' painting of
The Virgin with Child and Saints Peter, Paul and Scholastica stands on the main altar. Carved into the steps of the altar itself are the figures of Saints Peter and Paul (1855).
Two oval paintings in elegant wooden frames stand to either side of the altar. Only one of them, depicting The Archangel Gabriel, can be attributed to the hand of Lapis.
Various Benedictine saints are figured in the six stucco framed tondi around the walls of the church. From the left (anti-clockwise) they are: Saint Matilda, Saint
Justine Martyr of Padua, Saints Benedict and Totila, Saint Placid, Saint Gertrude and Saint Lutgard. The two ornate, elegantly carved side altars hold the 18th Century
Madonna and Saints Benedict and Cecilia (left) and a 16th Century wooden statue of The Madonna of Loreto. The wooden Crucifix beneath the choir loft is
traditionally believed to date back to the 16th Century, though it has been heavily over-painted. text by Alberto Mazzacchera |
