Chiesa dei Santi Domenico e Giacomo

The Church of Santi Domenico e Giacomo in Bevagna grew from a small oratory granted to the Dominican friar Giacomo Bianconi in 1291. The church preserves his tomb and a collection of medieval and Renaissance art.

Why it matters

The commune granted Bianconi the oratory of San Giorgio and permission to establish a convent in the centre of town. His work in Bevagna's recovery after the siege by Frederick II made him an important figure in local history, and the church preserves his remains.

What to notice

The late-fourteenth-century portal has a faded fresco in its lunette. Inside, the single nave preserves scagliola altar frontals, paintings attributed to Ascensidonio Spacca and late-thirteenth-century wooden sculptures of the Madonna and Child and a Crucifix. Fragments of a fresco cycle in the choir are associated with a painter from the Assisi-influenced circle of early Giotto followers.

Context and history

The church developed from the oratory of San Giorgio, granted to Bianconi in 1291. The Dominican convent grew around it, including a cloister with seventeenth-century frescoes by Giovanbattista Pacetti and a chapter house with mid-fourteenth-century paintings. The body of Beato Giacomo is preserved in an urn on the seventeenth-century high altar.