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The Church of Saints Faustinus and Jovita in Viterbo: from the Refugees of Ferento to the Knights of Rhodes
The Church of Santi Faustino e Giovita overlooks the square of the same name in the old city centre of Viterbo. Documented from 1226, it was originally a modest Romanesque building annexed to the Priory of San Luca (St Luke), surrounded by orchards. The district grew after 1172, when the people of Viterbo destroyed nearby Ferento: many refugees from that town settled here, bringing with them the cult of the two martyrs of Brescia — a devotion spread by the Lombards throughout central and northern Italy.
The Knights of Rhodes and the Madonna of Constantinople
In 1523, the Knights Hospitaller, having escaped the Turkish siege of Rhodes, obtained from Pope Clement VII permission to reside in the nearby Rocca dell'Albornoz. Grand Master Philippe Villiers de l'Isle-Adam chose San Faustino as the Order's church. In February 1524, the relics taken away from the Aegean island were displayed there, including the Byzantine icon of the Madonna of Constantinople. When in 1527 the Knights left Viterbo to settle in Malta, they donated the venerated image to the church, which is still housed today in the left apse.
The 18th-Century Reconstruction
The present building is the result of the rebuilding of 1759, based on a design by architect Giuseppe Antolini. The interior has three naves, with trabeated pillars and round arches, and houses works by Viterbo painters such as Vincenzo Strigelli and Anton Angelo Bonifazi.
