Towns Roccafluvione Pedara
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PEDARA  CHURCH OF SAINTS IPPOLITO AND CASSIANO The Church of Pedara is dedicated to saints Ippolito and Cassiano. Along the road that leads to Montegallo, the bell tower dominates, placed at the entrance of the high valley of the torrent from the crag of a hillock. It is already easy to intuit the numerous components and motivations of a building constructed in such a way as to be not just an instrument of prayer and place of representation, but a living component of an environment and of an ecological and social fabric. Close to the facade, on the centre line, closer viewing of the bell tower confirms this view: strengthening the entrance of the Church-fortress, its configuration reveals a defensive use of the structure. Built completely in homogenous rows of sandstone ashlars, the tower of Pedara was originally structured over five floors.On the ground floor there was a frescoed chapel: two doors placed on the same axis as the church afforded entrance into the assembly room, but static problems caused the external entrance to be walled up in the XVI century, forming a slope of consolidation. The first floor, supported by a barrel vault, was originally entered by means of an external postern door that opened on to the centre of the front wall, surmounting the Church entrance. Access to the tower could only take place with the use of a wooden ladder leant against the external wall. Such a solution was obviously linked to the need to prevent any assailants from entering the tower itself. Once inside, a new obstacle presented itself in the link with the second floor, afforded by a small door that could be closed from the inside, with a clear defensive inspiration. This door led into a chicane, or rather a passage angled by some steps, cut into the perimeter structure of the building. Arriving finally at the second floor, supported by a cross vault, there was a kind of fortified room that opened to the outside by means of a small door and three slits. The setting is extremely charming. After the tiring climb up the imposing stairs, the space erupts unexpectedly, immersed in a half light pierced by bands of light that come from the narrow openings. Here it was possible to control and defend the building, but it was also possible to collect goods and commodities in order to keep them safe from any eventuality. A wooden landing and stairs led to the belfry, originally built over two floors.The remaining belfry floor has ample double lancet windows on three sides with the centring of the arches planned on the slight evidence of a slightly moulded cornice. The supporting columns have limestone capitals. Particularly notable is the capital of the southern double lancet window, decorated with a broken line geometric motif that may be traceable to an inspiration of Arabic Norman origin. The eastern side has two similar double lancet windows.On the frontal side of the tower an ashlar engraved with the portrayal of a spiral labyrinth is highlighted. It is an elementary graphic composition of ancient origin, variously testified, that here has the function of passing on the sign of the presence and of the will of one of the stone masons involved in the building of the structure. On a level of symbolic meaning, it is a portrayal that represents the totality (the coil of the labyrinth) at one point (the centre), establishing a relationship between the macrocosm and the microcosm, between the generating unit and the whole universe. Other elementary centric figures that have a similar level of meaning are the cartwheel or the inscribed rose, which enjoyed much good luck in Romanic symbolism, and which is rediscovered in an abundance of substantiations in the XVI century architecture of Montegallo. The Church, a simple room with a sacristy that functions as an apse too, is built in sandstone and has been retouched several times over the years, above all in the XVIII century, when the current internal decoration was carried out and the lowered arch windows were built. Notable signs of the original shape are seen above all along the right side, where the scaffolding of the pilaster strips can still be discerned. The strips articulate the wall, imposed on a base fascia and originally concluded with the usual arched under gutter, in the shapes already highlighted in the example of Marsia. A single walled lancet window with wide embrasure, with archivolt framed by tiles and shaped by alternating sandstone and tile ashlars is the only original light remaining.Worthy of note is the portal which carries the date 1548 on the architrave. Characterised by a frame and a moulded cyma of direct Renaissance inspiration, it is topped by a lunette without any compositional links, placed to frame a fresco representing the Madonna in trono con il bambino benedicente. Carried out by a painter of modest calibre, the work is in any case full of a pleasing lightness of tone and echoes the traditional painting formats of the XV century, revealing an appreciable accuracy in its composition in the division into three of the background, which suggests, beyond the parapet, a hilly landscape at the first light of dawn.On the left side a door with the date 1748 on the architrave can be noted. It is currently the usual access to the church. Originally, access was via two entrances placed on an axis with the assembly room on the ground floor of the bell tower. Having crossed the external entrance you found yourself in a barrel vaulted chapel with frescoes. Many significant fragmentary remains of this pictorial decoration can be interpreted on the front wall, above the door that connects to the church. At the centre, on the same axis as the door, the blessing figure of Christ rises up, sitting on a throne in the shape of a shell. At his sides there are two chalice-bearing Angels in the act of honouring the Lord on a uniform blue background dotted with white floriform stars. The fresco was outlined along the arched profile of the vault by an elegant outline of birds. Of this worthy composition the Angel on the left, even if seriously damaged, remains. Notwithstanding its bad state of conservation, the surviving part display signs of a figurative culture and of a formidable technique. The “majestic” scheme of the portrayal makes reference to the great iconographic tradition propitiated by the Byzantine culture in the Mediterranean basin, and which found two strong centres of propulsion particularly in the central-italic area: Rome itself and the celebrated abbey of Monte Cassino, where the vast pictorial production promoted in the second half of the XI century by abbot Desiderio availed itself of the precious support of the prestigious oriental workmen. An eloquent echo of the great oriental tradition is perceivable in the frescoes of the Church of S. Giorgio all’Isola at Montemonaco, where the portrayal of Deesis in particular in the apse, dated between the second half of the XII century and the first decades of the XIII century, shows very clear relationships at iconographic and formal levels with the mosaics of Norman Sicily. These propose with luminous vigour the plasticity, the chromatic sensitivity and the rigour of composition of the late Komnenos figurative culture. The artist of Pedara ties in to the same sources, and reveals a strong personality thanks to the skilful modelling of the garments and accurate characterisation of details and decorative motifs. The fineness of the framing fret, the delicate graphics of the shading and of the tonal passages and above all, the unusual workmanship in the use of white, which runs along the filaments of the fret, illuminating the wings of the Angel and enveloping the Angel itself, transmitting a sense of lightness, suggest that the painter, educated and itinerant, was trained in a monastic scriptorium, maturing his vocation in the art of the miniature, with all the expressive possibilities that this allowed at a formal and iconographic level. It would explain the complexity of a style that even if it links itself to the great pictorial tradition of the South, display a wide range of suggestions, embracing in particular, with its characteristic framing fret, a model of decorative practice of the late-ancient ascendency which can be traced back to the painting of northern Italy. Other episodes of important medieval pictorial art are visible inside the church. On the left wall of the assembly room, within the framing of an altar, once the altar piece that it contained was removed, a XIV century Nativity of significant stylistic value came to light, which would merit restoring. The fresco is striking for the realism of the elements of the scene, for the formidable characterisation of the faces of the shepherds and for the intense delicacy lavished on the faces of Our Lady and Child as well as the Angel in the sky, executed with a gentle transparency of tones, extremely elegant in his clear cut and tapered hands: an admirable “grotesque” countermelody to the Angel painted two centuries before at the base of the tower. Always on the left wall, within a large niche decorated in the soffit, another XIV century fresco of evident quality is wholly preserved. Within a field bordered by a perspective denticulation, Our Lady is shown feeding the Infant on a throne and flanked by S. Agostino and S. Caterina. The finished perspective of the construction of the throne, the smooth softness of the faces, the accuracy of some details, such as the elegant fantasy of the acanthus in flower that decorates the garment of S. Caterina, highlight without a possibility of a doubt the hand of the Master of Offida. The same master, using the same cartoons, carried out the S. Antonio and the S. Caterina frescoed in the niche of the right hand wall. To finish this brief survey, it should be remembered that at the end of the left wall a mediocre votive fresco desired by a certain Sante Grillo hides formidable traces of a pleasing representation of Hell, which reveals a vocation to the monstrous and fantastic that is difficult to match in the Piceno area. They are traces that would merit restoring and detailed study.From the overview provided here, it can be inferred that the Church of Pedara, even now awaiting the restoration that will put an end to its state of dilapidation, constitutes not only one of the most worthy testimonies of sacred art in the Piceno, but also one of the most singular and significant episodes of medieval art in the Marche. Its spectacular natural position united to its configuration and its elements can only favour its rating as a unique and exclusive tourist destination in future.
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