A look inside: niches and paintings

The interior consists of a single, wide and bright nave, characterized by a very high ceiling that enhances the sense of verticality and solemnity of the sacred space.

At the end of the nave, where a detached 1508 fresco depicting the Madonna and Child within a mandorla is preserved, there are two side niches:

• First niche on the left: remains of frescoes of difficult interpretation decorate the side walls. On the left is a painting of the Sorrowful Madonna and Saint Gregory the Great, with a cherub holding a scroll bearing the inscription “To His Majesty Charles Martel, King of France.” On the altar is a 17th-century painting by an anonymous artist from Gubbio depicting Saint Gregory the Great, Saint Anthony Abbot, and Saint Catherine of Alexandria. Above the altar stands a wooden statue, darkened over time, likely representing Saint Marina.
• Second niche on the left: probably corresponds to the original apse of the primitive church. The ribbed vault is decorated with polychrome bands against a dark floral background. On the back wall is a 15th-century fresco depicting eight saints, difficult to identify.

In the centre of the nave are two altars:

• Right central altar: houses a statue of Saint Marina holding the child she raised.
• Left central altar: features a 17th-century painting of the Madonna of the Rosary flanked by Saint Dominic, Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Francis of Assisi, and Saint Charles Borromeo, by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli.

The presbytery, raised by steps and framed by an arch supported by columns, precedes the main altar and preserves some of the church’s most valuable works:

• Right niche: a refined fresco from 1512 signed by Tiberio of Assisi, a pupil of Perugino, brought to light in 1896. The lower register depicts Archangel Raphael guiding the young Tobias, followed by Saint Catherine and, on the right, Pope Saint Sylvester I overcoming the dragon slain at Mount Soratte. In the upper part God the Father appears blessing, holding a globe and surrounded by golden clouds, nine seraphim, and two angels.
• Left altar: dedicated to the Madonna del Soccorso, it preserves one of the most interesting works of the building: the Virgin of the Soccorso. Clothed in a wide mantle studded with stars, the Madonna frees a child from the claws of the devil. Popular tradition tells that the image originates from a real episode: a mother, exasperated by not being able to put her child to sleep, invoked the devil. When he appeared, however, she repented and implored the help of the Madonna, who intervened by saving the child. At the woman’s feet are also depicted the mother and the child’s bed. The work, attributed to Melanzio da Montefalco, “Sancta Maria populo castri Ritaldo, 1509”.

At the back of the church there once stood an altar, now demolished, and a 14th-century crucifix, now kept in the sacristy, while until 1745 a Gothic wooden choir stood behind the main altar.

A saint in disguise

Born in Bithynia, in what is now Turkey, in the first half of the 8th century, Marina lived a short life marked by suffering. Left orphaned by her mother, her father Eugenio withdrew to the monastery of Kanoubine. In order not to separate from him, she wore the monastic habit, taking the name Marino, and concealed her identity in order to share convent life.

During a stop at an inn with some fellow monks, she was unjustly accused of the assault suffered by the innkeeper’s daughter but, instead of defending herself, she silently accepted the blame. She was therefore expelled from the monastery and forced to take care of the newborn.

After years of humiliation and hardship, her fellow monks, who had never believed the accusation, managed to have the young Marino readmitted to the monastery, where the humblest tasks were entrusted to him. Worn out by hardship and deprivation, Marina died at a young age. Only then, while preparing the body for burial, did the monks discover her true identity, receiving proof of her innocence, and understood how the young woman had denied herself and silently endured the unjust accusation.

The innkeeper’s daughter also came to her bedside and, tormented by remorse, obtained forgiveness and healing. Even during her lifetime, people began to speak of Marina’s holiness, but after her death her devotion spread rapidly and numerous miraculous events were attributed to her intercession. Her body, initially buried in the monastery, was taken to Venice, where it is still preserved.