Chiesa di Santa Maria in Campis

South of Foligno, along the road towards Sant'Eraclio, Santa Maria in Campis stands beside the Roman necropolis of Fulginia. Its interior preserves fifteenth-century family chapels, including a cycle by Niccolò di Liberatore, called l'Alunno.

Why it matters

The regional portal describes Santa Maria in Campis as a paleochristian basilica beside Fulginia's burial ground and one of the churches associated with the tomb of San Feliciano. The site brings together Roman funerary remains, early Christian worship and later medieval and Renaissance decoration. The building was repaired after earthquake damage in the nineteenth century.

What to notice

The church stands in the area of Fulginia's Roman necropolis, along the route of the ancient road; the city cemetery later grew around it. Inside, the three-aisled hall contains family chapels with mural cycles. The Trinci chapel holds a Crucifixion and Stories of Saint Thomas, identified by the regional portal as the earliest known work of Niccolò di Liberatore, called l'Alunno, painted in 1456. Unequal aisle heights reflect the rebuilding after the 1832 earthquake. Above a side door on the facade is the coat of arms of Pope Boniface IX, associated with patronage around 1400.

Context and history

Scholarly tradition places the basilica's origins around the fifth century, beside a cemetery used from the first century BC to the fourth century AD. The church appears in twelfth-century documents under names that developed from Santa Maria de Fulginea to Santa Maria in Campis. A monastery beside it passed to the Cistercians of Corpo di Cristo in 1373 and to Olivetan Benedictines in 1582. Bishop Paolo Trinci founded a chapel at the base of the bell tower in 1330. The 1832 earthquake brought down parts of the medieval fabric; later work uncovered frescoes by l'Alunno, and the present bell tower was raised in 1959.