The Church of Our Lady of Tears and Perugino

Santa Maria delle Lacrime di Trevi is a fine Umbrian example of a Latin cross-shaped Renaissance church. The peculiarity of this Marian church is underlined by the rich pictorial decoration and the sepulchral monuments of the Valenti family. The church owes its origin to a miraculous event taking place in 1485 in a farmhouse outside the centre of Trevi. On the evening of 5 August, blood-coloured tears were seen dripping from the eyes of the Virgin Mary, an event that attracted a large number of believers, so the municipality of Trevi decided to build a sanctuary to honour the Madonna. The project in 1487 was entrusted to Antonio di Giorgio Marchisi da Settignano, later Francesco da Pietrasanta. It was completed in 1522. The construction of the church marked a period of great urban transformation for Trevi, which from the second half of the fifteenth century saw the construction of a large number of civil buildings and noble palaces that changed the medieval face of the town. The interior is slender and has a single nave with wide cross vaults. On the sides are numerous chapels, including the Chapel of the Adoration of the Magi, which contains a work signed by Pietro Vannucci, known as Perugino, and dated 1522, one of the master’s last works. The entire back wall is occupied by the beautiful scene of the Epiphany with characters in adoration. On the sides are the apostles Peter and Paul. These figures were undoubtedly commissioned by the men of Bovara, who had bought the chapel, since the church in Bovara was dedicated to St. Peter. The composition of the main scene reworks the Adoration of the Magi in the Oratorio dei Bianchi in Città della Pieve, painted in 1504. In the keystone of the arch is the coat of arms of the noble Trevan Valenti family. In the left arm of the transept is the Chapel of St Francis, frescoed by Giovanni di Pietro, known as Lo Spagna, a follower of Perugino, between 1518 and 1520. The central scene depicts Christ being borne to the Sepulcher among various saints. On the sides are depicted St. Joseph and St. Ubaldo.