Church of Santa Maria Maggiore - Spello - Church of Santa Maria Maggiore - Spello
Founded in the 11th-12th centuries, the church of S. Maria Maggiore has a facade dating back to 1644, which was built when the building was extended. Note the lintel, the jambs with a beautiful frieze and the acanthus volutes of the portal, the work of stone carvers active around Foligno and Bevagna in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and in part attributable to workers from Spoleto.
The church has a Latin cross shape with ribbed vaulting in the nave. In the second half of the seventeenth century it was furnished with seven altars and a rich stucco decoration. On the altars, there are numerous works from the 17th century.
Along the left wall, after the second altar on the left, is the Baglioni Chapel, commissioned in 1500 by Troilo Baglioni to the artist Bernardino di Betto known as Pinturicchio (Perugia, 1452 circa - Siena, 11 December 1513). The floor is richly decorated with Deruta majolica tiles from 1566. The chapel is entirely decorated with frescoes by the artist, starting with the sections of the vault, which depict the sibyls Tiburtina, Eritrea, Europea and Samia seated on thrones; on the left wall, the Annunciation with self-portrait and signature of the artist. On the back wall, Adoration of the shepherds and arrival of the Magi, on the right wall, Christ among the doctors.
Also along the left wall, note the Renaissance pulpit in sandstone by Simone da Campione (1545). The high altar is covered by a ciborium (or tribune) in caciolfa stone by Rocco di Tommaso da Vicenza (1515). The eight terracotta heads are by Giandomenico da Carrara: Prophets (1562). On the pillars that flank the apse are two works by Perugino, on the left Pietà, St. John the Evangelist, and Mary Magdalene, removed from an unknown seat (work dated 1521) and on the right Madonna and Child with St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. Blaise, removed from an unknown seat (work dated 1521).
