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The Church of Santa Maria di Forcassi in Vetralla: Sigeric's Stage on the Via Francigena
The Church of Santa Maria di Forcassi stands on the remains of the ancient Forum Cassii, a Roman way-station along the Via Cassia founded in the 2nd century BC in the territory of Vetralla. In the 10th century, when the Cassia had become the Via Francigena, Archbishop Sigeric of Canterbury stopped here, noting the stage in his travel diary as submansio V under the name of Furcari. For medieval pilgrims heading to Rome, it was one of the last stopping-off points before arriving at the Eternal City.
From the Knights Hospitaller to the Knights of Malta
In the mid-12th century, Popes Innocent II, Celestine II and Eugene III donated the church to the Knights Hospitaller so that they might found a pilgrim hospice there. In the 13th century, a leper hospital was added. In 1449 it was dedicated to the Most Holy Annunciation, in thanksgiving for the end of an epidemic. In the 16th century it was passed on to the Knights of Malta, until the Napoleonic occupation of 1807, when it went into private hands.
Restoration and Rediscovered Frescoes
After decades of abandonment and the collapse of the roof in the 1990s, the Municipality of Vetralla began to restore the building in 2009. On the façade a Carolingian oculus with a three-dimensional Solomon's Knot stands out. Inside are a monumental Crucifixion from the 11th–12th centuries and traces of paintings from the 17th century and earlier.
