Chiesa di Santa Maria del Riposo

Santa Maria del Riposo is a sixteenth-century church in Bracciano, built for the Orsini and decorated by a workshop associated with the Zuccari brothers. Since 1972 it has also served as the headquarters of the local history and archaeology association Forum Clodii.

Why it matters

The church grew around an older chapel dedicated to Santa Maria del Sasso and was consecrated in 1573, although interior decoration continued later. Its later association with Forum Clodii connects the building's devotional history with the study of the Braccianese area's archaeology and art.

What to notice

The interior contains frescoes attributed cautiously to the Zuccari workshop rather than to the brothers themselves. Two family chapels include a Massacre of the Innocents and an Assumption of the Virgin commissioned by the Pagnotta family. The older chapel and a late-medieval image of the Madonna preserve traces of the church's earlier devotional history.

Context and history

The Orsini initiative produced a church whose design has been attributed to Giovanni Lippi. The building was consecrated in 1573 and incorporates part of the earlier fourteenth-century chapel. In 1972 the parish entrusted it to Forum Clodii, which has since used it as its headquarters and as a centre for research on the local area.