This content was automatically translated. View the original text.
The Church of St Mary of the Assumption in Configni: A Baroque Interior in the Village on the Sabina-Umbria border
In the heart of Configni, a hill village perched 692 metres a.s.l. on the slopes of Monte Cosce on the border between Sabina and Umbria, the Church of Santa Maria Assunta in Cielo (St Mary of the Assumption) has served as the parish church since the 15th or 16th century. The façade is disarming in its simplicity: a small relief panel above the Renaissance portal, a large semicircular window above. Nothing more. It is the interior that surprises the visitor.
Frescoes, Canvases, and an Organ With a Story
The single nave, remodelled in the late Baroque style, houses works that point to centuries of devotion. On the second altar on the left is a fresco dated 20 October 1501: a Madonna Enthroned with the Christ Child among angels and figures in prayer. The organ was brought here from the monastery of San Paolo (St Paul) of Spoleto, sold in 1881 for 150 lire following the expulsion of the Observant Friars Minor. The high altar originates from the now-vanished Romanesque church of San Gregorio Magno (St Gregory the Great), salvaged by the Orsini family. Behind it, an elaborately carved and gilded wooden altarpiece frames a triptych of the Sabine school: Assumption of the Virgin flanked by St Gregory the Great and St Candidus.
Details That Catch the Eye
The baptismal font dates back to 1514. On the first altar on the right, a canvas depicting St Anthony Abbot shows the saint holding a large pig and a flame — both symbols of the disease that bears his name (fuoco di Sant’Antonio, or shingles). In a display case near the entrance is a delicate statue of the Christ Child.
