Santa Maria di Viepri Abbey

Details

Category: Abbazie

Near Viepri stands the Abbey of Santa Maria. It was built around 1150 by the Lords of Castelvecchio. At the beginning of the 13th century it became the parish church of destroyed castle of Monte Schignano. An interesting example of Romanesque architecture, in time it underwent various interventions. The abbey was built using material from abandoned Roman buildings. On the simple gabled facade opens a portal surmounted by a lancet window and stands what remains of a sturdy bell tower, mutilated, it seems, by a lightning.

The great square tower was subsequently incorporated in the adjacent building. Along the outer walls of the abbey are incorporated a number of interesting and sculptural fragments of Roman and early medieval age. The semicircular apses have the characteristic crowning arches and pilasters on shelves, common to the Romanesque churches of Umbria. The interior is spacious and divided into three naves, separated by solid pillars without capitals, ending in three apses. It is covered by cross vaults supported by transverse arches, but it is plausible to assume that originally presented the usual wooden roof trusses. Although the abbey is free from the crypt below the chancel is slightly raised above the floor of the nave.