Interior of the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta and San Gregorio in Montone, with Baroque altar and frescoes.
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Rich in history and art: the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta and San Gregorio in Montone

The Collegiate Church in its current form dates back to the second half of the 1600s, although it was built upon an older structure dating at least to the 14th century, originally lower and without the apse and side chapels: the Church of Santa Maria Assunta. Until 1317, the ancient ‘Pieve Vecchia’, dedicated to Saint Gregory, was the parish church of Montone. From that year onward, Bishop Ugolino Gualterotti granted the title of Saint Gregory to the Church of the Assunta, which then became the parish church, equipped with a bishop’s chair and a college of canons.

Between 1661 and 1668, the building underwent a profound renovation carried out by the canon Giovanni Pazzaglia. From that moment on, the church adopted a Latin cross plan, with a single nave and an extraordinary wooden coffered ceiling.

The exterior features a simple gable façade, with a short staircase leading to the entrance portal, surrounded by a moulded stonework and surmounted by a small oculus.

Gilded wooden coffered ceiling of the Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta e San Gregorio in Montone.

Gilded wooden coffered ceiling

Frescoed vault with golden and blue motifs in the Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta e San Gregorio in Montone.

Frescoed vault

Side altar decorated with twisted columns and altarpiece depicting the Madonna in the Collegiata of Montone.

Side altar with altarpiece of the Madonna

Detail of the gilded coffered ceiling with central fresco in the Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta e San Gregorio.

Detail of the ceiling

Inside is the Nuns’ Chapel, so called because it is adjacent to the Poor Clares convent dedicated to Saint Agnes. These sisters are the devoted custodians of the relic of the Holy Thorn, donated to the people of Montone by Carlo, son of Braccio Fortebracci, and displayed publicly on Easter Monday and on the penultimate Sunday of August each year.

The church is rich in frescoes and paintings, such as the beautiful Last Supper, placed above the sacristy door, a work by the Flemish artist Denijs Calvaert, originally from the Church of Santa Croce and likely commissioned by the Vitelli family.

The fresco on the vault, on the other hand, was painted by Giovanni Parenti, head of the Florentine Academy. It dates from the first half of the 1700s and depicts the Apostles awaiting the descent of the Holy Spirit. The same painter also produced the canvas depicting the Souls in Purgatory saved by saints interceding before the Trinity, as well as the noteworthy altarpiece showing the Madonna between Saints John the Baptist and Gregory the Great.

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