Chiesa di San Rocco

The Church of San Rocco in Pitigliano preserves traces of the town's religious and architectural history, from its medieval beginnings to its later rebuilding under the Orsini. Its carved stonework, painted heraldry and devotional images bring several centuries into view.

Why it matters

The church is documented in 1066, when it was known as Santa Maria. Its surviving fabric reflects successive periods of construction and patronage, including the transformations of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

What to notice

A carved nenfro architrave with a human figure and winged dragons survives from the earlier church. The present building has a three-nave, trapezoidal plan, with Ionic columns and a late-Renaissance façade. Inside are seventeenth-century frescoes and a row of nineteenth-century coats of arms. A fresco of the Madonna, associated with the old Porta di Sovana, is also preserved here.

Context and history

The church was first dedicated to Santa Maria and has been associated with a tradition of an ancient temple on the site. It was substantially reworked in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. San Rocco became a co-dedication in 1907, reflecting the saint's importance to Pitigliano.