This content was automatically translated. View the original text.
Church of St Andrew the Apostle in Jenne: the great parish church of the Abbey of Subiaco
In Jenne, a small village in the Simbruini Mountains about 70 km from Rome, the parish church of Sant’Andrea Apostolo (St Andrew the Apostle) dominates Piazza Vittorio Emanuele with a Neoclassical façade that appears disproportionately large for a town of only a few hundred residents. Built over exactly forty years, it is the largest parish church within the Territory of the Abbey of Subiaco, surpassed only by the two Sublacensian monasteries.
The architect who did not see its completion
The foundation stone was laid on July 6, 1835. The design was by Nicola Jona, an architect from Trevi nel Lazio, who personally directed the construction site until his death, without seeing the church completed. Work continued until September 13, 1874, when Cardinal Raffaele Monaco La Valletta, the Commendatory Abbot of Subiaco, consecrated the building.
The interior
The Latin cross interior houses two noteworthy works. On the high altar stands a coloured wooden crucifix dating back to the late 17th century. On the first side altar, there is an altarpiece (pala) with St Roch (San Rocco), the patron saint of Jenne, painted in 1863 by the Roman priest Alessandro Zamboni. A little-known detail: according to local tradition, the two columns supporting the choir loft (cantoria) originate from Trajan’s Villa in Arcinazzo.
