Tempio di San Michele Arcangelo

Beyond Porta Sant'Angelo, on a rise at the edge of Perugia, stands a circular early Christian church ringed by sixteen ancient columns. Known as il Tempietto, it is generally dated between the fifth and seventh centuries and is counted among Italy's oldest surviving churches.

Why it matters

Central-plan churches from the early Christian period are rare survivors. The Tempietto is dated between the fifth and seventh centuries, most commonly to the fifth or sixth. It is described as the first religious building raised in Perugia. Built on high ground outside the Etruscan-Roman walls, it was later enclosed by the medieval circuit. Its circular form and position link the city's Etruscan, Roman and Christian history.

What to notice

Two concentric spaces organise the interior: an outer ambulatory and a raised central presbytery, separated by a circle of sixteen Corinthian columns. The columns differ in size and material and are thought to be spolia from older structures. Their provenance has been linked, tentatively, to temples of Vulcan and Flora. Above them, the drum has windows grouped in threes towards the four cardinal points, beneath a stout tiburio with narrow single-light openings. Exterior buttresses brace the roof, while the entrance portal dates to the Gothic period. Side chapels include a baptistery with fifteenth-century votive frescoes, the chapel of the Crucifix and the chapel of the Angel. The altar is an early marble slab resting on a column trunk.

Context and history

The church most probably rose over the remains of a Roman temple, on ground believed to have been sacred to the Etruscans. Its early Christian dedication is to the Archangel Michael, whose cult spread during this period. The church gave its name to the gate and borgo below it. Initially outside the Etruscan-Roman circuit, it was later enclosed by the fourteenth-century medieval defences. From 1945 until the late 1970s, the wellhead of the Etruscan Well was kept on the church's lawn before being returned to Piazza Piccinino.