Chiesa del Santissimo Salvatore

The Church of the Holy Saviour stands in Bolsena's Castello quarter opposite the Rocca Monaldeschi. Its early-twentieth-century neo-Gothic design echoes the neighbouring fortress, while its later history includes a fire, secular reuse and restoration as a parish church.

Why it matters

The church was promoted by Bolsena-born abbot Giuseppe Cozza-Luzi and built in the early twentieth century. Its fortified silhouette makes it distinct from the older buildings of the quarter. After a fire in the 1920s, the church was used as a warehouse and cinema before its restoration and inauguration as a parish church on 15 November 1931.

What to notice

The façade has two towers, one serving as the bell tower, and a polychrome marble front. Inside, a single nave leads to an octagonal presbytery with a large Transfiguration painting and a seventeenth-century altar of polychrome plaster stucco. The church also preserves a baptismal font attributed to Benedetto Buglioni and paintings of Saint Lucia Filippini and the local martyrs Christina and Mary of Peace.

Context and history

The building's reuse as a warehouse and cinema followed the fire that interrupted its religious use. After the Curia bought it back, restoration returned it to worship in 1931. The church also has a place in the devotion to Santa Cristina: during the town's July feast, her statue is carried from the basilica to the Castello quarter and returns the following day.