Church of San Bartolomeo

It is characterized by a decorative apparatus with a marked Baroque taste. According to reports by the local historian Antonio Gucci, Francesca Falagrini was responsible for the foundation, around 1380, of the small church dedicated to San Bartolomeo. In 1629 the church was enlarged in the spaces corresponding to today's nave using the rooms of the ancient church in Coro. For the precious wooden coffered ceiling Benedetto Ginestra di Fossombrone was commissioned, who decided to integrate the pre-existing cover also with lacunars built in 1588 and visible in the spaces of the choir and the sacristy. To the same architect, the main wooden altar with its characteristic blue color and precious gilding has to be traced back. At the center is the image of the Madonna del Consiglio, while on the sides described in the shell niches are the statues of San Giovanni Evangelista and San Bartolomeo. A similar wooden ornament continues in the two side walls where the niches are arranged with the apostles alternating with the four large canvases with Storie di San Bartolomeo. These were donated by Maria Antonia Gucci who, in gratitude for a grace received, commissioned it to the Vicentine Pasqualino Rossi. The episodes chosen are in order (counterclockwise): San Bartolomeo heals Polimnio's daughter, San Bartolomeo converts Polimnio, the Baptism of Polimnio, and the Martyrdom of San Bartolomeo. The statues of the apostles, ten in number, refer to several hands including the Frenchman Giovanni Anguilla and the German Francesco Enghiarez. Among the apostles represented are the saints Simone and Taddeo pictorially described in two small paintings so as to ideally complete the iconographic program.