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The Church of St Peter in Subiaco: a Romanesque Bell Tower in the Heart of the Medieval Village
At the top of a stairway in the Valle district, behind the labyrinth of alleyways in the medieval village of Subiaco, the Church of San Pietro comes into view. The architecture is modest, almost anonymous. But the bell tower is anything but: it is a jewel of Romanesque architecture, and stands out on the façade, taking up nearly half of its height. That is the only authentic part remaining.
The Church That Is No More
Of the medieval fabric, only the bell tower survived. The church was razed to the ground by Second World War bombing, and rebuilt from scratch in 1949–50. The present interior is austere: a single nave with a king-post roof, in the spirit of early Romanesque. Those in search of ancient frescoes will not find them here, you will have to climb to the Sacro Speco, or go down to the convent of St Francis.
The Bell Tower: the Only Thing That Matters
Datable to the 11th or 12th century, the tower rises up free on three sides, and terminates with an octagonal pyramidal spire. There are four superimposed tiers: the first two are solid-walled, the upper two lightened by twin-light windows, divided by slender stone colonettes. It is a typically Romanesque exercise in geometry — mass and lightness alternating as the eye travels upward. Looking up at it from the small square, with the houses clustered around it, is the most authentic image of medieval Subiaco you can see.
How to Get There
On foot, from Piazza Santa Maria della Valle, going up Via Milazzo, or from Piazza Sant'Andrea, climbing up Via Palestro, Via del Torrione and Via San Pietro.
