Abbey of Santa Croce dei Conti

The abbey of S. Croce dei Conti at Sassoferrato (now owned by the Camaldolese congregation) stands on the opposite slope from the town of Sassoferrato, near the confluence of the Sanguirone and Morena streams with the river Sentino. Documentation on the origins of this monastery, whose ancient name was “Sancta Croce Comitum de Tripudio”, is scarce. The foundation of this monastic institution is usually attributed to the will of Count Atto and is dated to the second half of the 12th century, “between 1150 and 1204” (this latter date can be read in a scratched inscription near the entrance of the church). Extensive enlargement and renovation works have now almost entirely incorporated the perimeter walls of the church (the complex is still undergoing restoration and is closed to the public). According to scholars, the church must have had a pitched roof and an octagonal crossing tower (tiburio) at the intersection of the apses opening in the side walls of the smaller aisles (like the church of S. Vittore at Genga). Only recent restorations have brought to light the remains of this octagonal tiburio. The plan measurements are also very similar to those of S. Vittore at Genga, about 15 metres per side; scholars also attribute the second apse projecting on the south side to a later rebuilding of the original layout, just as the two quadrangular rooms on either side of the present entrance portal are not original Romanesque work. The room on the north side is built on a semicircular structure, probably belonging to the first construction and now visible only as the foundations of the square room: perhaps the foundations of a circular tower, as at Genga and at S. Claudio in Chienti. The church is entered through a vaulted atrium in which opens a portal framed above by a round archivolt on corbels decorated with animal figures and plant ornaments. The decoration of this archivolt is arranged in three mouldings – the outer one carved with geometric motifs and the two inner ones with plant and animal motifs – which frame a frescoed lunette. The springing stone of the outermost moulding bears an almost identical motif on both sides: a wild beast, perhaps a lion, with very prominent fangs. The decorations of the mouldings show traces of ochre and red colour. Parts of a marble cornice with plant motifs and egg-and-dart, probably of Roman origin given the proximity of the site of the famous battle of Sentinum, have been placed on the south side of the atrium leading to the church portal.