Oratory of Madonna delle Nevi

The Oratory of the Madonna delle Nevi, which probably originated from a roadside tabernacle that was the object of popular devotion, is the result of a long evolutionary path and of historical events that affected the Torrita community. The portico, surrounded by sandstone columns supported by wrought-iron railings, gives the impression of standing in front of a small temple, accessed by a travertine staircase dating back to the 19th century. On the tympanum of the entrance door is the niche where Donatello’s bas-relief The Blood of the Redeemer was placed, now kept in the Church of Saints Flora and Lucilla.

1525 is the date of the first major transformation, the second was in 1632, when the dedication was changed from Madonna di Porta a Sole, to Madonna delle Nevi, to coincide with the end of the second great plague epidemic. The structural renovation, in the transition from a shrine to a small church, moulds the building in a way that is functional to the frescoes painted inside, which were commissioned to Girolamo di Benvenuto.

The frescoes focus on the story of the Virgin’s life and depict the highlights of Mary’s life: the Annunciation and the Assumption into heaven. The iconographic complex, of exquisite workmanship, traces the miniatures of the “Libri dei Leoni” with surprising pictorial chromaticism. On each side, in the upper niches, we find the patron saints of Torrita, Costanzo and Flora, and in the lower ones the two thaumaturge saints linked to the periods of the terrible epidemics: St. Rocco. the healer of the plague, and St. Sebastian, the saint who prevents it.