Complesso Beata Lucia

Why it matters

The former orphanage named for Beata Lucia Brocadelli now houses a collection devoted to landscape painters who worked in the Nera valley. Their views of the gorge are held in museums in Italy and elsewhere. A chapel dedicated to Lucia in Narni Cathedral preserves works associated with her veneration.

What to notice

The former orphanage is an example of a charitable institution in Narni's civic history. The collection focuses on landscape painting and the artists who recorded the Nera valley. In the cathedral, the Cappella della Beata Lucia has paintings of her stigmata and mystical marriage associated with Francesco Trevisani, beneath frescoes attributed to Luigi Garzi. Her relics are preserved under the altar.

Context and history

Lucia Brocadelli was born in Narni in 1476 and entered the Dominican Third Order in 1494. In 1499 Ercole I d'Este called her to Ferrara, where the monastery of Santa Caterina da Siena was established for her. She died there in 1544, and her cult was approved in 1710. Her remains were transferred to Narni Cathedral in 1935. The orphanage on Piazza Galeotto Marzio carried her name; its building later became associated with the Plenaristi collection.