Card author:
Location:
Date:
The church of San Giorgio rises outside the town. Precious example of Romanesque architecture, it was built in different phases, between the 10th and 12th centuries; different workers worked there including the Lombard. The building, in peperino stone, is characterized by a rectangular plan. A plaque on the side of the church remembers the figure of Ludovico Chigi Albani, prince of Soriano.
Info: Parish of S. Nicola di Bari, piazza Vittorio Emanuele n. 27, tel. 0761745119;
Municipality of Soriano nel Cimino, piazza Umberto I n. 12, tel. 0761742235, fax 0761742252,
ProLoco of Soriano nel CiminoPiazza Umberto, I
01038 – Soriano nel Cimino (VT) Tel / Fax 0761.746001 – info@prolocosoriano.it
Agostino 334.7596098 Roberto 331.3651414 Fausto 340.3609305
CHURCH OF SAN GIORGIO
THE EXTERIOR
The church of San Giorgio stands outside the town’s built-up area. Precious example of Romanesque architecture, it was built in different phases, between the 10th and 12th centuries; different workers worked there including the Lombard. The building, in peperino stone, is characterized by a rectangular plan. A plaque on the side of the church remembers the figure of Ludovico Chigi Albani, prince of Soriano. The semicircular apse is equipped with rounded pilasters and ribs, alternating with each other and intersected by hoops decorated with vegetable and spiral motifs; the crowning is then made up of blind hanging arches, resting on capitals. The square bell tower is placed on the left side; the bell tower, which remained unfinished, was added later by the Albani family (whose coat of arms is visible), who also arranged for the raising of the entire structure; the eighteenth-century superstructures, however, were removed in 1937. On the tympanum of the gabled façade there is a mullioned window, with an internal column, on the sides of which two angels and an eagle, an ox and an angel emerge in relief, symbols of the evangelists John, Luke and Matteo. The tympanum is also bordered at the base by seven bas-relief tiles: the central one shows two swans around a chalice, a symbol of the Eucharist; the others have alternating plant and animal motifs. The round portal is decorated in bas-relief with a stylized chestnut branch and is flanked, on the left, by the relief figure of a saint and on the right, by the Blessing Redeemer. Lower down there are five panels, also in bas-relief, probably of a pre-existing construction, which depict the stone processing operations.
THE INTERIOR
The interior, with a single nave, is rather bare. The preserved works are of modern invoice. On the right side of the building is the statue of a Madonnina. The presbytery houses a recently built ciborium, like the altar it encloses, supported by Corinthian columns and decorated with a bas-relief depicting St. George killing the dragon. On the left side stands a stone lectern. The door, which opens at the back of the building, leads to the sacristy, created in a small covered room with a ribbed cross vault. On the counter-façade of the church there are two tombstones: one, to the right of the entrance door, remembers the precious contribution of Prince Albani and the parish priest Cecchetti, the other, to the left, shows the names of those who carried out the restoration of S. George. A stone stoup is placed on the entrance wall.
ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
D’ARCANGELI V., Monumenti archeologici e artistici del territorio di Soriano nel Cimino e delle zone limitrofe, Soriano nel Cimino (Vt) 1967.
D’ARCANGELI V., Soriano nel Cimino nella storia e nell’arte, Viterbo 1981.
GIGLIOTTI S., Soriano nel Cimino, in “Tesori. Storia e leggende d’Italia”, anno 2, n. 6 (2005).
Soriano nel Cimino, a cura di Carivit S.p.a., autori D’ARCANGELI V., SANTOCCHI A., Viterbo 1993.
Soriano Turistica, a cura dell’Associazione “Pro-Soriano”, Soriano nel Cimino (Vt) 1970.
ZEI C., S. Giorgio, chiesa romanica di Soriano nel Cimino, Viterbo 1929.
Valentino D’Arcangeli, Francesca Ceci (a cura di), L’antichissima chiesa di San Giorgio a Soriano nel Cimino, Soriano 2016.