Chiesa di San Giorgio

San Giorgio in Tivoli preserves the memory of an ancient parish title that moved from the acropolis to a former Poor Clares church dedicated to Saint Michael. Its bell-gable predates the seventeenth-century building below it.

Why it matters

The history of San Giorgio is intertwined with Castrovetere, the ancient citadel quarter. Diocesan tradition recounts that the Tiburtines dedicated two acropolis temples to Christian worship: the round temple to Mary and the rectangular one to Saint George. The first written trace of the churches appears in the Regesto Tiburtino; a bull of Pope Benedict VII in 978 records them as cathedral diaconiae, charitable stations of the local Christian community.

What to notice

The campanile a vela, or bell-gable, belongs to a church older than the seventeenth-century building beneath it. A carved portal inscription reads SAN MICHELE ARCA(N)GELO and carries the date MDCI, a record of the building's earlier dedication. The church was formerly known as San Michele Arcangelo and served the adjoining monastery of the Poor Clares. Its furnishings include a thirteenth-century tabernacle with gold, red and green glass tesserae. In 1571, Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este and Bishop Marcantonio Croce led the nuns' procession into the convent; tradition records the cardinal's gift of a painting of Saint Michael by Raphael. An altar once held a Saint John in the Desert by Perin del Vaga.

Context and history

For centuries, the parish church of San Giorgio stood inside the rectangular acropolis temple. The account of the Templi dell'Acropoli dates its presence there from the tenth century until 1881 and records its altars dedicated to Saints George and Martin, Lawrence and Dominic, and Matthew and Francis. In 1883, the mayor of Tivoli demolished the parish structures to expose the ancient temple. While a new church was awaited at Piazza Rivarola, the parish title moved to the nearby San Michele Arcangelo church built by the Clarisse. The arrangement became permanent, and the parish took the double title of Santi Giorgio e Martino, incorporating the dedication of San Martino, whose church near the bridge had collapsed through age and neglect.