Chiesa di San Flaviano

The Church of San Flaviano stands at the foot of Montefiascone's hill beside the historic Via Orvietana. Its unusual structure consists of two churches, built one above the other and facing in opposite directions, with a frescoed lower basilica and a thirteenth-century upper church.

Why it matters

The church preserves a long history of worship along the road that linked Montefiascone with Orvieto and the Via Francigena. The lower church dates to the eleventh century, while the upper church was built in the thirteenth. The building also holds the remains of Saint Flavianus, regarded as the city's protector, and served as Montefiascone's cathedral until the seventeenth century.

What to notice

The road-facing façade has three Gothic arches below a full-width loggia, with a triangular gable, a rose window and a bell gable. At the opposite end, a quadrilobed rose window and two oval windows mark the upper church's reversed orientation. Inside the lower basilica, columns with acanthus capitals divide three naves. Its frescoes include the fourteenth-century Meeting of the Three Living and the Three Dead. In the upper church, the throne of Pope Urban IV survives beneath a canopy; he consecrated its altar in 1262. Near the lower entrance is the tomb slab of Bishop Johannes Defuk, whose epitaph is linked to the local Est! Est!! Est!!! wine legend.

Context and history

San Flaviano developed in two architectural stages: the eleventh-century lower church and its thirteenth-century upper counterpart. Its position beside the old road made it an important religious landmark for travellers and the surrounding community. The story of Defuk's tomb and the wine called Est! Est!! Est!!! is a local legend associated with the church, rather than a securely dated account of the bishop's life.