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Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art in Sermoneta: paintings, furnishings, and repainted frescoes
The Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art in Sermoneta was established in 2003 thanks to the joint efforts of the Diocese of Latina, the Superintendency for Artistic and Historical Heritage of Lazio, the Region, and the Municipality. Its aim was to recover and put on public display paintings and furnishings from local churches that were no longer used for worship.
The Chapel of the Magi
The first room comes from the first half of the 15th century. It was the De Ritiis Chapel, also known as the Chapel of the Magi. Here one can find paintings such as the altarpiece of Archangel St Michael Slaying the Demon by Francesco da Castello, the Coronation of the Virgin by Girolamo Siciolante, The Virgin, Child and Martyr Saints Stephen and Lawrence, and an Annunciation.
The Oratory of the Battenti
The second room, the Oratory of the Battenti (Flagellants), was built in 1499 after the Confraternity of the Battenti obtained legitimacy from Pope Alexander VI Borgia. The confraternity members practised self-flagellation — three original flagella are still on display. The frescoes on the walls were painted by Alessandro Melelli between 1625 and 1630. From 1770 to 1771, Domenico Fiorentini repainted them, keeping to the same subjects. The room also contains two canvases — the Madonna with Child and Saints by Odoardo Vicinelli and Our Lady of the Rosary and Saints by Fiorentini himself — as well as blue damask dalmatics, 18th-century chalices and reliquaries, a silver pyx from 1592, and two 15th-century liturgical books with leather, bronze, and gemstone bindings.
