Stone façade of the Church of San Biagio in Cannara, with an arched portal and small windows, overlooking a street.
View on map

The Church of San Biagio

The lesser-known Middle Ages

The only building in Cannara to have preserved its medieval appearance, the small Romanesque church dedicated to Saint Blaise dates back to the 13th century. A document in which the monks of San Benedetto del Subasio list it among their possessions attests to its existence as early as 1244. Between 1481 and 1652 it belonged to the Canons Regular of San Salvatore in Lauro in Rome, and later came under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Assisi.

The church must have played a significant role in the life of the community: the Municipal Statutes of Cannara (1536, part III, rubric LV) state that women called to testify in criminal proceedings were to be questioned by the Podestà precisely inside the church of San Biagio, in the presence of another woman. The saint is still deeply venerated by the people of Cannara: on his feast day, 3 February, celebrations include traditional games of skill, including the so-called ruzzolone, a competition in which participants roll a wheel of cheese through the streets of the village, trying to make it travel the farthest.The late Gothic façade is built with alternating rows of white and pink stone blocks from Assisi. It features a beautiful stone portal, decorated with carved capitals and surmounted by a rose window flanked by two single-lancet windows.

Detail of a stone-carved capital with decorative motifs worn by time, on the church façade.

Detail of a capital

Detail of the church’s stone arched portal, with a carved capital and decorations worn by time.

Detail of the church’s arched portal

Stone façade of the Church of San Biagio, with an arched portal, narrow windows and a central oculus.

Stone façade

Stories of folklore and devotion

The interior consists of a single nave with a vaulted ceiling divided into four bays. On the main altar, to the left of the entrance, hangs a late 16th-century painting depicting the Trinity, with Saints Lawrence and Benedict on the right and Saint Blaise and Blessed Lorenzo Giustiniani on the left. The presence of the Blessed is linked to the fact that the Canons of San Salvatore in Lauro, who managed the church from 1481, depended on the Augustinian convent of San Giorgio in Alga in Venice, of which Lorenzo Giustiniani (1381–1456) was Superior General; at the time the fresco was executed, he was still considered a blessed figure — his canonisation did not take place until in 1727.

Fragmentary yet significant remains of 15th-century frescoes can still be seen on the church walls. Also preserved, on a 17th-century altar on the right wall, is a venerated wooden statue of the Virgin Mary. On Easter Sunday, this statue is carried in procession to the church of San Matteo for the ritual known as the Rinchinata, during which the statues of the Virgin and the Risen Christ meet and bow to one another. Tradition holds that the outcome of the year’s harvest depends on this encounter.

Explore the surroundings
Main attractions in the vicinity