Titolo: Chiesa di Santa Maria della Pietà- Umbertide
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Chiesa di Santa Maria della Pietà- Umbertide

Location and Essential Architecture


The Church of Santa Maria della Pietà is situated in an unobtrusive location on the northern outskirts of Umbertide, near the former neoclassical Civil Hospital. Its architectural layout, Renaissance in style with a single nave, dates back to 1486. Its strategic placement on a hill known as Mercatale along the ancient road to Montone was not coincidental.


The Two Souls of Franciscanism


Its construction marked a specific intervention in the religious geography of the time. At the behest of Pope Sixtus IV, the church was intended to provide a distinct seat for the Spiritual Franciscans, as a counterpart to the Conventual Franciscans already established in the Church of San Francesco in the lower town. The two branches, both born from the heritage of Saint Francis, represented different approaches to monastic rule, with the Spirituals emphasizing a more rigorous interpretation.

Umbertide

The Artworks:


The church's artistic heritage tells a story of patronage and dispersal.
• The Lost Work: to beautify the interior, the community commissioned Bernardino di Betto, known as Il Pinturicchio, to create a 'Coronation of the Virgin'. Delivered in 1502, the altarpiece was requisitioned during the Napoleonic spoliations. Destined for the Louvre, it was instead acquired by the Holy See and is now part of the Vatican Museums' collection.
• The Surviving Lunette: above the entrance portal remains the fresco of the Madonna between two Angels, traditionally attributed to Pinturicchio or, more likely according to critics, to his pupil Giovan Battista Caporali.


Recent History


Suppressed in 1863, the convent passed through various managements, including a period under the Salesians from 1941 to 1963, before the return of the Friars Minor in 1964. Both the church and the convent have benefited from a complete restoration in recent times, preserving their austere 15th-century silhouette intact.

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