Collegiata di San Pietro Apostolo

At the summit of Fiuggi Alto stands the Collegiata di San Pietro Apostolo, built inside the town walls in the seventeenth century. Consecrated in 1617, it has a Latin-cross plan, six side chapels and transept altars dedicated to the Immacolata and Saint Lucia.

Why it matters

The earlier parish church, now San Biagio, stood outside the castle walls and had become inadequate for the community. The new church was built within the walls on the site of a chapel dedicated to Saint Lucia. Bishop Antonio Seneca of Anagni consecrated it on 4 November 1617. In the eighteenth century it was elevated to a collegiate church, with a chapter of canons.

What to notice

The six side chapels hold devotional paintings. On the right are the chapels of Saint Francis, with an Ecstasy of Saint Francis by a seventeenth-century Roman painter, the Madonna del Carmelo, and the Assunzione. On the left are the Madonna del Purgatorio, the Ascensione and the Sacro Cuore. The transept altars are dedicated to the Immacolata and Saint Lucia, recalling the earlier chapel on the site.

Context and history

The church's construction accompanied the growth of Anticoli di Campagna, the town's former name, and the move of worship within its walls. Its collegiate status gave the town a chapter and an archpriest. In 1660, after the Capuchin convent was suppressed, the bishop of Anagni entrusted the friars' house to the collegiate's archpriest, Don Carlo Somaggi. The church remains a principal historic church of Fiuggi Alto.