Chiesa di Santa Maria de Platea

Why it matters

Santa Maria de Platea is a medieval church on Montefalco's main square and is associated with the commune's early public assemblies. Its name, meaning “of the square,” records its position in the town's civic centre. The building also preserves a Renaissance fresco cycle commissioned from Francesco Melanzio.

What to notice

The original portal survives, alongside a terracotta surround added in the twentieth century. An aedicule from the earliest church remains set into the altar-wall masonry. A marble column with a carved capital forms part of the water stoup. The frescoes, commissioned in 1517, show the Madonna and Child with angels, Saint Gregory celebrating Mass, Saints Fortunatus and Severus, and God the Father in the lunette above. A related Assumption panel is held in the Vatican Museums.

Context and history

A church of Santa Maria de Platea is documented from the early thirteenth century. Communal councils met there before the Palazzo del Popolo was built. Around 1500 the commune transferred the building to the Confraternita del Sacramento. The confraternity later rebuilt the church, giving it much of its present appearance, and commissioned Melanzio's altar-wall decoration.