The church, dedicated to the Madonna, was annexed to the women’s orphanage. The oratory was part of the home of the founder of the Eutizio Pace institute, who, in 1774, gave life to the orphanage by expanding the structure with the annexation of other rooms.
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 Cimino,
Piazza 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 THE ORPHANOPHY
HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION
The church, dedicated to the Madonna, was annexed to the women’s orphanage. The oratory was part of the home of the founder of the Eutizio Pace institute, who, in 1774, gave life to the orphanage by expanding the structure with the annexation of other rooms. Over the years, donations to the care home increased, allowing it to accommodate a greater number of orphans (from the initial four young women to twelve). Since its foundation, the management was entrusted by Pace himself to a lay director, but over time it was necessary to turn to a religious order; the Belgian Sisters of the Immaculate Conception were initially involved, later the sisters of the Cottolengo of Turin. Furthermore, at the end of the eighteenth century, the “maritaggio mountain” was established here, with the aim of providing for the dowry of the patients.
THE EXTERIOR
The façade of the Church of the Orphanage has simple but refined shapes: two steps lead to the entrance of the building, characterized by a portal finely circumscribed by a peperino frame, an element that also recurs in the rectangular window in the center of the structure, in the architectural elements ornamental and in the pediment.
THE INTERIOR
The interior consists of a modest-sized classroom. The most significant part is constituted by the front wall where a marble altar is placed, decorated with thin columns and surmounted by a tabernacle embellished with a gilded door. At the top there is a niche that flows into a lunette on which the inscription: “ORPHANO TU ERIS AUDITOR PSAL IX” is imprinted. On the sides of the altar there are two wall openings: the right one is a wooden door, the left one houses a statue of the Virgin of the Assumption, to whom the church is dedicated, wrapped in a blue light. The counter-façade of the building is surmounted by a wooden choir loft illuminated by the central window. Also interesting are the decorative and symbolic elements that adorn the walls, such as those that appear in the lunette of the classroom, such as: Dove of the Holy Spirit, candelabra, Agnus Dei, crismon.
ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
PERETTI E., Chiese ed oratori che esistono o sono esistiti in Soriano nel Cimino, appunti storici.