Church of Pietrarossa and archeological area

The church stands on the site where the presence of the ‘Trevi de planu’ is said to have existed before the Trevi of today was built on top of the hill. It is a very particular building in its “organic” architecture, whose roots go back to late antiquity and it developed and expanded during the Romanesque period. The erratic materials arranged on the masonry come from the Roman buildings that stood around the supposed temple on which the church was likely later built. Of particular interest are the votive frescoes decorating both the interior and exterior walls of the church, some of them are works of art of great value, others simple expressions of popular devotion, of the religiosity of the peasant world. Most of the works can be dated to the 15th century and feature important signatures such as Bartolomeo da Miranda (Annunciation on the wall of the right aisle, The Madonna della spiga, on the outside, St. Bernardine of Siena, Madonna with Blessing Child and others), the so-called Maestro di Eggi and his workshop (Ascent to Calvary, Prayer of Gethsemane, Annunciation and others), the Maestro of Dormitio di Terni (Expulsion of Joachim from the Temple, dated late 14th-early 15th century, Madonna and Child and others). There are also traces of older frescoes, such as the head of a St Peter (late 13th-perhaps early 14th century, depicted just beyond the main entrance on the right). The building is rather irregular and asymmetrical, with evident extensive restorations due to, among others, the damage of the 1832 earthquake and the devastation of World War II. In particular, the old vaulted roofs were rebuilt after the aforementioned earthquake, partly with trusses. The presence of the large portico, rebuilt in 1956, is linked to the need to accommodate a large number of people who came here for both religious and social reasons. Since the fifteenth century, fairs and markets have been held here, including the Fair of St. John, a re-edition of which was held in 2014 in the square in front of it, displaying the products of the Canapine, the reknown vegetable gardens of Trevi, to bring together the producer and the consumer in a context of great historical and artistic interest”.