Santa Reparata EN

A) TRANSLATION OF THE LICENCE PLATE
The church was built jointly by the citizens of Casoli and the laromani (inhabitants of ancient Cluviae). The original name Liberata with time was deformed by the popular pronunciation in Reparata. The church was built on the edge of the sheep track, far from the town, which was then limited to the upper part of the hill. The current appearance is due to the reconstruction carried out from 1948 to 1952, after it was partially damaged during the Second World War by an Allied bomb. The facade follows the horizontal elevation of the Abruzzo tradition. The interior has three naves with all-round arches. Of the ancient church remain: a) the finely carved portal located at the right side entrance; b) the two altars of the apostles Philip and James, located at the end of the two side naves; c) the triumphal arch of 1539; d) a relief decoration carved on white stone that houses in the niche a valuable statue of Santa Reparata, made at the end of the third century; e) the central part of the rose window of the facade; f) some decorative elements, embedded in the right wall of the entrance.

On the left wall of the entrance you can admire the original tombstone, placed in  memory of the beginning of the work, and the Triptych of Santa Reparata (see information inside).

Unfortunately, due to war events, and during the reconstruction phase, for unknown reasons, the most important artistic value, consisting of a coffered ceiling of the central nave with magnificent paintings, was lost (see information inside).

Since March 5, 2014 it is the seat of the Parish of Santa Maria Maggiore in Casoli.

1A . The triptych
The Casolan triptych shows us the young saint in her white mantle with her incredulous face and her hands raised to heaven towards the hand of God blessing. In the side panels two angels on inscribed bases remain collected in two niches surmounted by domes, while they are intent on supporting gilded candelabra. The inscription, divided into two side panels, shows the name of the author and the date of realization: Antonio di Francesco da Fossombrone, April 18, 1506. In the central panel another inscription indicates to us without any doubt the identity of the saint: SANTA LIBERATA VIRGIN AND MARTYR. This is the description made by Daniele Avanzati who took care of the restoration of the triptych, together with a pool of experts under the supervision of the Superintendence SABAP of Abruzzo. The Avanzati also informs us that all in all the triptych was in a fairly conservative state. A philological-stylistic evaluation, however, is given by Corrado Ricci: “The interesting painting before us was seen and remembered by Antonio De Nino and Emilio Bertaux, but not described in its stylistic features nor researched in its author, as much as it deserved”. As for this art, to quote Bertaux: ‘It would not be Umbrian, but rather  Marche, and more especially still, Ascolan and, more especially still, Crivellesque. Because it is evident that our painter, both for the type of the Virgin and for the rich fabrics and certain ornamental parts gilded and in stucco relief, shows that he was influenced by Carlo Crivelli, the master who then dominated in Piceno, and that he belongs to the group of painters to which Alamanni and Vincenzo Pagani belonged”.

VISITORS ARE INVITED NOT TO GO BEYOND THE CORDON TO AVOID TRIGGERING THE ALARM.

1B . Tombstone

1C . The central nave of the church
The central nave of the church had a splendid coffered ceiling (see photo) with magnificent paintings made by Vittorio Buzzacarin, who worked there from 1603 to 1606. He was a stepson of the great Polidoro di Mastro Renzo da Lanciano, who had established himself above all in Venice. The central nave, at the height of the presbytery, in addition to the ceiling paintings, also had frescoes on the walls, made by Buzzacarin himself, representing “the instruments and the various ways of martyrdom, to which the Saint was subjected”. On November 26, 1943, during an Allied aerial bombardment, the roof and the underlying coffered ceiling were partially destroyed. The intact part of the recoverable ceiling, equal to 135 square metres, vanished into thin air in a mysterious vortex of silence during the restoration and reconstruction works carried out from 1948 to 1952. A real artistic bloodletting for the community and for the church.

B) SUPPLEMENTARY NEWS