The Collegiata
Church Santa Maria della Reggia
The building dedicated to the Holy Virgin Mary, called “della Reggia”, was built in the second half of the sixteenth century, next to the creek bearing the same name, thanks to the will of Umbertide residents. The building was erected to house a miraculous frescoed image found in a chapel nearby. Works were first directed by architects Galeazzo Alessi and Giulio Danti, the original designers, then in 1583 by Bino Sotii, Mariotto da Cortona (1600), Rutílio (1623) and, finally, Bemardino Sermigni (1640). The original construction, featuring an octagonal external layout and a circular plan inside, has a diameter of 22m and a total height of 40m. The interior of the dome, from the lantern to the tambour, covers an area of 689 square meters. The diameter of the copper ball over the lantern is 1,65m. The original dome, which showed signs of failure, was rebuilt in the early seventeenth century, yet the building’s original plan was only partly changed. Inside, the perimeter area is bounded by a round of 16 columns rather detached from the walls, on which the corresponding pillars are shown. Between the columns, arcades with their altars appear in eight large aerostils as well as the organ loft and the two entrance doors. The twin colonnade (Tuscan-style, built in 1632 to support the dome), the cornices, the moldings, the niches and chiaroscuro all confer a fine movement of masses and light to the structure. The columns reach the remarkable height of 9,60m. Equally important is the seventeenth-century polychrome terracotta floor.
Artworks:
The tambour of the dome is decorated with 4 large paintings:
The Holy Virgin in glory with holy Mary Magdalene, Joseph the Baptist and Evangelist, Andrea, Francesco, Apollonia, attributable to a sixteenth-century Roman school (above the main altar);
Ascension to Heaven with the saints Benedict, Romuald, Savino and Vescovo, including Eucharistic symbols, by POMARANCIO (Niccolò Circignani), 1578 (above the organ loft);
B.V. of Loreto with saints Andrea Avellino and Ubaldo, by G. Alaboyna, 1749 (above the altar of the Rosary);
Regular St. Cleric with Christ presenting him with the Cross, by G. Alaboyna, 1749 (above St. Joseph’s altar).
Altar of the S.S. Sacramento: A marvelous work of carved gilded woods by Peter Kraas, 1680. Upper part: Father God by Scaramuccia. In the same altar you can also admire a valuable TABERNACLE in gilded wood, Florentine-style, sixteenth century, and a nineteenth-century wooden CRUCIFIX. Sixteenth-century baptismal bowl in white marble. The altar behind, by G. Fontana, in gilded stucco, frames a seventeenth-century painting representing the Holy Virgin and saints. St. Joseph’s altar: Valuable sixteenth-century, Florentine-style statue. Altar of the Rosary: 15 copper medallions illustrating the mysteries of the Rosary. Above the doors two Baroque inscriptions recall respectively the dates of construction of the church and its consecration (1751).