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The Church of St May of the Assumption and St George Martyr in Nerola: the Sacred Heart of the Sabina
The Church of Santa Maria Assunta and San Giorgio Martire dominates the historic centre of Nerola, a village of the Roman Sabina on the slopes of the Lucretili Mountains. Duke Raimondo Orsini commissioned its construction in 1483, during the pontificate of Sixtus IV. The portal preserves the family's coat of arms: the rose and the crossed bands, symbols of a power that shaped the entire village.
A Church Destroyed and Rebuilt
The history of the church is marked by a dramatic rupture. The earthquake of 1915 — the same one that devastated Avezzano — razed it to the ground. The present building dates to 1924. The reconstruction preserved the three-nave layout with a semicircular apse and exposed roof trusses over the central nave. Inside, an image of the Virgin of the Assumption is housed in the ancient wall altar. The bell tower is older: it dates to 1670, and withstood the earthquake, remaining the sole surviving element of the 17th-century structure.
The Village and its Patron Saint
St George is the patron saint of Nerola. The Palio di San Giorgio is held on 23 April each year, a festival that brings to life the narrow streets of the village clustered around the Castello Orsini. The Way of Saint Francis, linking the Holy Valley of Rieti to Rome, passes through here. A short distance from the church, the 19th-century fountain in Piazza Municipio and the ancient Pilgrim's Hospice — today a hospital — bear witness to a tradition of hospitality that has endured for centuries.
