Chiesa di Santa Illuminata

The Church of Santa Illuminata below Montefalco's walls is a Renaissance building associated with an earlier community of women connected to Saint Clare of Montefalco.

Why it matters

Santa Illuminata preserves the memory of the religious community that preceded the monastery of Santa Chiara. Its chapels also hold a significant group of works by the Montefalco painter Francesco Melanzio.

What to notice

A deep portico shelters the brick facade, whose entrance portal bears the date 1500. A lunette depicts the Madonna della Misericordia with Clare and Giovanna. Inside, painted side niches include works by Melanzio, among them an Assumption with Saints Agatha and Augustine and a Coronation of the Virgin dated 1507. His other frescoes include a Pietà dated 1509 and a Madonna and Child with saints and the Resurrection dated 1515. Works by Bernardino Mezzastris are also present.

Context and history

A religious retreat for Giovanna was established here in 1271, and her younger sister Chiara joined her in 1274. Around 1280 the community moved to the future monastery of Santa Chiara. The site later passed to reformed Augustinians, who rebuilt the church and convent between 1492 and 1500. The Augustinian community was suppressed in 1653, after which the church became associated with the collegiate parish of San Bartolomeo. Capuchin friars occupied the convent from 1910 to 1975. Some earlier panel paintings are now preserved in the San Francesco museum in Montefalco.