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Church of St Anthony Abbot in Nerola: the ancient parish outside the walls, in the Roman Sabina
The church of Sant'Antonio Abate stands to the north of Nerola, outside the castle walls, in the Roman Sabina. It served as the town's parish church until around 1550. St Anthony Abbot is, together with St George and St Sebastian, one of the three patron saints of the town.
From parish church to church of the cemetery
Around 1550 the parish title passed to the church of San Giorgio. From that point on, Sant'Antonio Abate retained only its cemetery functions. The graveyard lay on the left side, outside the building. The church was looked after by the "santesi" of the hospital — people appointed to care for ecclesiastical property — while the cemetery was maintained by the municipality.
Three chapels, frescoes and a trapdoor
Inside there were three chapels. On the high altar stood a wooden statue of St Anthony. The apse vault and the side walls were painted with figures of saints, including St Anthony of Padua and St Francis of Assisi. The third chapel had no altar: there was a trapdoor above the burial pit for pilgrims, facing Campanelli's garden. The bell-gable contained a bell cast in 1597.
Closure and misguided restorations
In 1888 the church was closed for worship because of its by-then extreme deterioration. The gabled façade had a central door with a lunette, which has been bricked up in recent times, leaving the interior dark. The most recent restoration work covered up the ancient frescoes with white plaster and altered the original structure. An intervention that erased, rather than preserved, the treasures within.
