The Tempio del Santissimo Crocifisso, also spelled as Tempio del SS Crocifisso (Temple of the Holiest Crucifix) was erected as a Renaissance-style, Roman Catholic sanctuary church on Via del Crocifisso #10, about 200 meters Northeast of the Porta Romana, just east of former medieval walls of Todi, province of Perugia, region of Umbria, Italy. It now serves as a parish church.
The church has been compared with the other architectural Renaissance jewel found on the outskirts of Todi, the Bramantesque sanctuary church of Santa Maria della Consolazione. Like many sanctuary churches, the layout is centralized, although unlike the Consolazione church, the dome of the church here has been enclosed in rectangular box-like arms. The walls are made of brick but highlighted by doric pilasters. The tall facades are nearly equivalent in all arms except for the entrance portal with a triangular pediment.
The construction of a church at the site was commissioned under Bishop Angelo Cesi in 1566. At this site there was a roadside aedicule with a 14th-century image of the Madonna known as the Maestà delle Forche (Majesty of the gallows). The site was also used for executions hence the link to a gallows. In 1566, Cesi noting the devotion to this image, decided to build the church; Cesi did not lay the first stone until 1591. [1]
The design of this church has a complex attribution. Tradition has held that it was either by or inspired directly by a plan by Bramante, but it would have to have been a posthumous derivation since that architect died in 1514. Some have attributed the original inspiration to Bramante's famous Tempietto (1502) at San Pietro in Montorio in Rome, but while this honors the structure's centralized plan, the Tempietto has a truly circular layout unlike this rectangular church. Some have attributed the design to the architect Valentino Martelli from Perugia, [2] but also claimed it was derivative from the models of either the other Sistine Chapel (circa 1585–1590) in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome [3] or the church of Santa Maria della Consolazione (1588) in Montefalco. The construction was under the direction of the Pietro Paolo Sensini of Todi, who is known to have worked with Martelli. Construction of this church continuted until the early decades of the 17th-century, employing the direction of other local architects Giovanni Domenico Bianchi, and starting in 1594, Ippolito Scalza from Orvieto. [4] [5] By 1610, the original devotional image of the Maesta had been placed at the high altar. [6]
However, recent scholarship has also unearthed at the library of the Accademia di San Luca in Rome, a plan of an externally quadrangular and internally hexagonal church, found in an anonymous folio belonging to the Bolognese architect Octavian Mascarino (1536-1606). The document from 1589, matches plans for this church in Todi, and has been attributed to the architect Ascanio Vitozzi of Bolsena, who designed the church of Santissima Trinità in Turin (1598). [7]
Donato Bramante, born as Donato di Pascuccio d'Antonio and also known as Bramante Lazzari, was an Italian architect and painter. He introduced Renaissance architecture to Milan and the High Renaissance style to Rome, where his plan for St. Peter's Basilica formed the basis of the design executed by Michelangelo. His Tempietto marked the beginning of the High Renaissance in Rome (1502) when Pope Julius II appointed him to build a sanctuary over the spot where Peter was martyred.
Todi is a town and comune (municipality) of the province of Perugia in central Italy. It is perched on a tall two-crested hill overlooking the east bank of the river Tiber, commanding distant views in every direction. It was founded in antiquity by the Umbri, at the border with Etruria; the gens Ulpia of Roman emperor Trajan came from Todi.
Tempietto generally means a small temple-like or pavilion-like structure and is a name of many places in Italy:
The Sanctuary of Macereto is a Renaissance-style chapel or Marian shrine in Visso, province of Macerata, Marche, Italy. Built between 1528 and 1538 around a rustic 14th-century chapel housing a venerated statue of the Madonna, it is located in the Parco Nazionale dei Monti Sibillini.
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Paolo Emilio Cesi (1481–1537) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal.
Santa Maria della Consolazione is a Renaissance-style pilgrimage church in Todi, Italy. The centralized, symmetric plan, surmounted by a tall dome, distinguishes this Renaissance church, from the more common elongated basilica or Latin-cross designs. Another Todi sanctuary church, also with a symmetric layout, is the Tempio del Santissimo Crocifisso on the eastern end of town.
Todi Cathedral is a mainly Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral in Todi, Umbria, Italy, dedicated to the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary. It was formerly the seat of the bishops of Todi, and since 1986 has been a co-cathedral of the diocese of Orvieto-Todi.
Palazzo del Popolo, also called Palazzo del Priori or Podesta, is a Gothic architecture civic palace in Todi, region of Umbria, Italy.
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Santa Prassede is a Gothic-style, Roman Catholic church located on Via Santa Prassede #71, east of the central Piazza del Popolo in Todi, province of Perugia, region of Umbria,
San Filippo Benizzi, formerly Santa Maria delle Grazie is a Roman Catholic sanctuary church and convent on Via Giacomo Matteoti, just inside the Porta Romana and across the Street from San Niccolo, in the center of Todi, province of Perugia, region of Umbria, Italy.