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The Church of St Sebastiano in Cerreto Laziale: frescoes and anti-plague saints on the hill
The Church of San Sebastiano is located on the edge of a hill in Cerreto Laziale, in the province of Rome, and existed prior to 1572. This date marks the first documented record, but not its foundation, which remains unknown. Its position outside the inhabited centre of the village had a specific function: churches dedicated to St Sebastian were typically built on the outskirts of villages, near hospitals for plague victims.
The frescoes and saints on the left wall
The walls were originally covered with frescoes from top to bottom. Those still visible, datable to the first half of the 16th century, are the work of an unknown painter—the same artist, according to scholars, who decorated the atrium of Santa Scolastica in Subiaco. On the left wall appear St Sebastian pierced by arrows and clad in armour, St Roch with the plague sore on his leg, St Anthony Abbot, and St Lucy. These figures were collectively invoked to act against disease. On the right wall is a Madonna Enthroned crowned by two angels.
The 19th-century apse and the Roman altar
In 1855 the back wall was demolished to make room for the apse, destroying the fresco of the martyrdom of Diocletian. Only a fragment survives, showing a figure in purple robes. Objects preserved include a wooden crucifix from the 16th century and a votive altar from the 2nd century AD, found in 1960 in the locality of Arnale, decorated with four divine figures on its faces.
