Church of San Pietro in Mavino

FRESCOES The unfrescoed stretches of wall are entirely plastered. Starting from the entrance and moving left, a large detached fresco depicting a series of holy apostles hangs on the wall. St. Simon is clearly visible, pointing with his finger to a scroll bearing the date 1321 (see photo: Procession). Further on there remains a stretch of fresco painted with another sequence of saints (see photo: group of 3 saints), perhaps later than the previous fresco, or at least executed by a different artist. Indeed, the haloes are made in a different style, with radiating rays in relief (this type of ornament will also be found in other figures of saints painted in this church), whereas in the large fresco they are simply painted. Likewise the figures of the saints are very different, appearing here with more detail and greater variety of colour. Clearly visible is the figure of St. Peter (in a monk's habit and tonsured), holding the keys and a staff, with two small praying figures at his feet. To his left, now mutilated, only part of another figure of a saint in sumptuous robes (perhaps a bishop) remains. To his right, on the other hand, is a bishop saint, whose face has been chiselled away. Beyond the bishop, to the right, the figure of a monk appears again – here too, unfortunately, the face has been obliterated – holding a book (because of this detail perhaps identifiable as St. Benedict). On this side of the church, roughly halfway along the nave, a chapel dedicated to the war dead was opened in modern times. To the right of this chapel there is today another fragment of detached fresco, fairly well preserved (see photo: St. Michael). It is divided into three sections: in the centre, in a reasonable state of preservation, stands out a St. Michael piercing a dragon or the devil with his lance (this detail is missing). To the right of St. Michael, framed, is the figure of a saint holding the palm of martyrdom, with a book under his left arm. To the left, also framed by a moulded border and in good condition, appears the figure of a nobleman who can be identified as St. Roch from the finger pointing to his thigh, where the mark of the disease is usually visible (here, however, it has flaked away). A last large frescoed stretch covers the part of the north side wall near the apse area but, unfortunately, this is the worst-preserved zone, with at least two layers of painting and sinopias. The cycle unfolds in two distinct horizontal sections: below, parts of the figures of three saints in archaic Byzantine-style garments can be seen. A thick painted border with a Greek-key motif separates this sequence, much interrupted by losses of colour, from the upper sequence, even less well preserved, in which, irregularly and in very faded tones, the figure of a kneeling personage dressed in white can be made out. The hemicycle of the small north apse is entirely painted. In the foreground is a Madonna and Child, while figures of saints occupy the sides and the lower part. The front of the small altar also retains very deteriorated remains of fresco: the figure of a saint with open arms can still be seen. On the jamb dividing the north apse from the central one is painted a St. Anthony Abbot, spoiled by writing and graffiti. In the central apse the decoration is arranged on two levels. The upper level is occupied by two panels depicting the souls of the damned and those of the blessed in prayer, turned towards a large mandorla in which Christ Pantocrator is enthroned (see photo: Pantocrator). On either side of him are painted the Virgin and the Baptist, with angels blowing trumpets. Floral ornamental motifs abound, both in the space around Christ and in the border of the apse conch. Note the sumptuous Byzantine-style garment, with the tunic richly decorated with precious stones (recalling Early Christian mosaics in Ravenna). At Christ's feet, from two large sarcophagi, one on the left and the other on the right, naked human figures emerge to half-length: the souls of the Blessed and the Damned or, more simply, the Resurrection of the Dead. The most visible are the six damned, lower left of the Pantocrator; serpent-like creatures torment the figures (see photo: the damned). The lower part is occupied by another fresco in which six figures of saints are placed within frames. This fresco would seem to have been painted before the fresco of Christ, since some stretches of the plaster of the upper band overlap the frames of the six saints. The depiction is rather flat and linear: (see photo: fresco of saints 1) three saints are placed between the left-hand single-light window and the central one, and three on the opposite side, following the outlines of the openings. The first saint from the left is the customary depiction of a monk saint leaning on a staff with both hands; in the centre of the triptych is another saint, with white robe, white beard and tonsure, holding against his left arm a book with a decorated cover; beside this figure appears a St. James, identified by the name written above him in the frame and by the shells on his satchel. St. James, too, holds against his left arm a book with a finely decorated cover. Originally the other two figures must also have borne their names in Gothic characters, but unfortunately only scant traces of them remain today. A peculiarity of these three figures is the haloes around their heads which, in addition to the layer of gold colour, show traces of relief in stucco. In the corresponding group on the right-hand side one first encounters a saint who cannot be more precisely identified (see photo: fresco of saints 2). Although the figure is in a reasonable state of preservation, its coarse execution is apparent, above all in the facial features, which are out of proportion to the rest of the body (a stylistic comparison with the figures of the adjacent triptych and of the two neighbouring saints highlights the artist's poor familiarity with anatomy and with the proportions of the human body). The saint, with a white cloak, thick grey beard and long hair, holds a closed scroll in his left hand. To his left is St. Paul, with a thick dark beard and a pronounced receding hairline; he holds a sword in his right hand and a book in his left. If, with the first figure of this sequence, doubts could arise as to whether all six figures of saints were contemporary or by the same artist, the book in St. Paul's hand also reveals glaring differences: the covers binding the books of St. James and of the saint beside him are finely decorated, whereas here the cover is extremely simple. The design of the haloes is also different: in this case, besides lacking stucco decoration, they are rendered with a simple radiating motif. The third saint, here too difficult to identify and entirely lacking personal attributes, is characterised by the cloak covering most of his body: its decoration of white and green lozenges on a flat ivory-coloured ground recalls ancient motifs of the pre-Romanesque period, which certainly cannot be the period in which these paintings were made. Perhaps in these three saints the stylistic differences are due only to the different artist who worked here, certainly not the same one who frescoed St. James and the two saints beside him: it cannot be ruled out that the coarseness of execution shown by the three saints on the right may be the result of clumsy restoration campaigns. Another difference between the two sequences of figures can be seen in the outlines of the saints: those on the left are outlined in black, whereas the figures of the three on the right stand out against a background of a different colour. The jamb bears a poorly preserved figure of St. Paul holding a sword. In the south apse the frescoed wall is divided into two compartments (see photo: fresco of right-hand small apse). The conch and the hemicycle are occupied by a Crucifixion, with Mary and the holy women weeping to the left of the cross, while to the right appears a female saint in prayer with her hands joined on her breast. In the lower part of the fresco appear three rather damaged and faded figures: in the foreground, the figure of an angel (the face is now illegible, as are parts of the wings). To its right is a female saint who seems to be presenting a small kneeling figure in prayer. To the left of the angel, what was painted has been almost completely obliterated: one can sense that it was a figure of a saint who, like the female saint on the opposite side, was presenting a praying figure. Two circles (placed between the angel's wings and the side figures) are curious: to the right of the angel, the purple colour would seem to conceal a human face, while the opposite ring would seem to outline the features of a human face (perhaps Sun and Moon?). Here too the front of the altar of the small apse retains very worn remains of a fresco of a saint (only the halo can be seen). A frescoed fragment is also present on the stretch of wall between the apse and the rectangular door of the south side wall. It was painted in two layers: starting from the left, the older painting is in a reasonable state of preservation: one sees, in sequence, a female figure with a halo and royal crown, dressed in a sumptuous Byzantine-style robe (perhaps St. Helena?), recognisable from the ornaments decorating the bodice of the dress. Beside her is a monk saint (he has a tonsure and a halo), holding in his left hand a book with a decorated cover; above the heads of these two figures emerge fragments of the fresco that had been painted over this scene: two heads can be seen which trace, or at least repeat, the features of the faces of the two older figures beneath: a female head with halo and crown and a male head with tonsure (see photo: fresco, south side wall). Continuing towards the façade, one comes to a St. Anthony Abbot (painted at the same time as the two neighbouring, less ancient fragments), with a long forked beard, his right hand raised in blessing and a bell in his left. The habit is scratched and almost entirely covered with graffiti of various periods. A loss of colour in the saint's habit shows that there were other frescoes beneath. The third figure in this scene is a St. Peter: unfortunately he has a serious loss of paint in the centre; he holds a pair of keys in his hand and can be ascribed to the same chronological phase as the St. Anthony. Continuing westwards after the side door, a long frescoed band extends for some fifteen metres. The missing parts are considerable and decisive (only the first scenes from the east and a few damaged fragments at the western end are reasonably visible). What remains, from left to right, are a saint with “wild” hair, holding an open scroll; a saint of, so to speak, more serious appearance; a Mary Magdalene with very long blond hair and wide-open eyes (see photo: Mary Magdalene) between two small angels, followed by a female saint with a royal crown, a closed book in her left hand and her right hand lifting the hem of her robe. The frescoed sequence continues with an enthroned Madonna and Child; further to the right there remains, partly deteriorated, a Madonna of Mercy between two small angels and two saints (of whom only the one on the left is now visible). In the final stretch towards the west a further short stretch of fresco, now illegible, survives. Lastly, on the south-west part of the inner façade wall, a saint in Byzantine-style garments is painted, near some praying figures turned towards the painted sequences that must once have covered the south side wall. Near the entrance portal stands a holy-water stoup whose shaft consists of a squared, undecorated monolith of light-coloured stone, while the basin is square with a squared central hollow, decorated on three sides with a simple series of projecting mouldings.