Chiesa di Santa Maria del Pozzo

Nemi's parish church of Santa Maria del Pozzo, known locally as la Pullarella, is associated with a well once honoured by popular devotion. Its chapels preserve works spanning the town's history, including a fifteenth-century triptych attributed to Antoniazzo Romano.

Why it matters

The present church was built in the early seventeenth century by Mario and Pompeo Frangipane to replace a twelfth-century church within the castle walls. The earlier Cistercian foundation was dedicated to Santa Maria de Puteo, named for a place above a well that drew popular devotion. The new church formed part of the Frangipane transformation of the castle into a palace and the settlement beyond its walls. The Confraternity of the Most Holy Sacrament has maintained the church since 1747.

What to notice

The church has a single nave ending in an apse, two large transept altars and six side chapels. The designer is unknown, though similarities to an altar by Fra Michele da Bergamo have prompted an attribution. The left side preserves scenes from Christ's childhood: the Flight into Egypt, Massacre of the Innocents, Adoration of the Magi and Presentation in the Temple. A former Assumption chapel now serves as the baptistery. The chapel of San Francesco Saverio contains a triptych attributed to Antoniazzo Romano, showing Christ Blessing between Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, beside the confraternity's old crucifix. Pre-1728 frescoes of Dominican and plague-saint figures remain in the Rosary chapel. The transept chapel of the Madonna del Pozzo contains a sixteenth-century painting rescued from the medieval church's high altar. Above the entrance hangs an organ made in 1847 for Rome's Ara Coeli and transferred here in 1936.

Context and history

Work slowed after Mario Frangipane's death in 1654, and local donations helped complete the building. A vow made during the plague of 1656, which spared Nemi, bound the administration to care for the Madonna del Pozzo chapel. In 1747 Cardinal Carafa entrusted the church to the Confraternity of the Most Holy Sacrament. The fraternity's late-eighteenth-century processional banners were painted by Liborio Coccetti; a modern standard was made in 1996. In the early nineteenth century, under Duke Luigi Braschi, Giuseppe Camporese raised the present facade and the interior was refreshed. Antonio Rufa painted the vault in 1934. The Frangipane crest crowns the marble high altar.