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PIANO
Church of San Lorenzo Developed over two sloping floors, the gable is surmounted by a conic spire with a wrought iron cross topped by the form of the saint to which the church is dedicated, easily identifiable thanks to the instrument that was used to torture him when put to the stake.Within the church, the archway soffit of the presbytery is decorated with little bays frescoed with figures of saints rendered with the immediacy and the linearity of the sacred holy pictures. Among the better conserved saints S. Andrea is seen at the top with his characteristic cross in the form of an X and on the right pier, S. Tommaso (the writing of his halo reads, in fact, S. Tommaso). This unusual and pleasing pictorial decoration can be dated to the XVII century.At the high altar a frescoed niche stands out, this too decorated in the soffit with a lozenge motif that culminates with the trigram of S. Bernardino. The painting, well conserved, is a collage of instigations and iconographic motifs that are concentrated with difficulty in one unitary composition. The Padre Eterno benedicente surrounded by a glory of cherubs bears down on two Angeli muscianti that just touch with their horns and feet the Madonna col Bambino benedicente which stands out in turn over the image of the Holy House of Loreto. Elements of traditional painting join with the easily-recognisable suggestions of the painting of Carlo Crivelli and of Cola dell’Amatrice. The fresco can be dated between the end of the XVI century and the first decades of the XVII century.To the right of the niche an elegant painted and gilded tabernacle in the form of a little carved temple can be seen. The example can be linked to a tradition of sacred furnishings typical of the local craftsmen of the XVIII century.Lastly, on the left wall of the main body of the church it is worth noting a modest XVIII century altarpiece in an extremely bad state of conservation portraying the Madonna in gloria tra S. Lorenzo e S. Sebastiano. House with loggias The house is situated at the start of the hamlet. It is a building of solid and compact appearance, with a building apparatus of notable precision, today unfortunately spoilt by an over insistent restoration of the joints, carried out using an unsuitable mortar which visually breaks up the homogeneity of the lines and gives them chromatic values that are rather discordant. Particularly questionable are the external wooden casings with aluminium hinge pivots and the reinforced-concrete floor.Being built originally in what was an isolated and outlying position, the construction needed to be equipped in the likelihood of the probable need to defend itself.On the right side, of picturesque muteness, two cruciform slits for firing crossbows through stand out; one, to the top left, is cut out from a single block of stone; the other, in the basal area of the wall, is formed by two facing ashlars. Worthy of note at the top is the dove house with two tiers of perches, with compartments for the birds: in the lower row, in pairs, triangular in form or singularly in a single block of stone and further on connected to a trilithic window, in the upper row, they are rectangular on a discontinuous perch.At the right extremity of the face there is the simple entrance portal, originally provided with a simple frontal flight of stairs which today has been replaced by a discordant little terrace with metal balustrade. The lintel, set on two brackets, has a central plaque in relief bearing the monogram JHS which divides the date of construction, 1546 in two. In the centre of the wall there is a charming single lancet window with the centering obtained from a single block of stone. On the same axis, at the top, there is a little perch flanked by a slit through which you could shoot. To the left of the wall, finally, there is an external flight of stairs covered by a simple series of arches and crowned by an exposed wooden truss. This building work was carried out after the construction of the house itself and greatly softens its original solid yet severe appearance. In the new structure, built at the service of a building added to the old house, the corner pilaster stands out in particular, concluded by a rounded ashlar which alludes to a capital; on the side facing the stairway, the pilaster is connected to a lintel that is grooved together with the pilaster itself so that it can house a batten. The lintel carries the date of construction of the happy and characteristic addition: 1626. Piano also conserves a considerable example of a tower house built vertically on the exposed gravel bed of a river in the XVI century, on which it stands with a powerful and suggestive building apparatus. The façade is presently covered by a building element that was probably added in the XVII century, notable for the dove house at the top complete with characteristic cart wheel. At the top of a flight of stairs within the new construction, the original entrance portal can be seen, with its lintel resting on brackets, today lost; a carved scroll in bas-relief on the lintel carries the date of construction, 1526. Two eighteenth century buildings To conclude our visit, let us stop at two XVIII century buildings that stand out on a road in Piano. Their respective, imposing facades do not face one another directly, having been positioned according to a well-considered sequence that assigns each of them a well-defined band of respect. A building of less importance corresponds to each façade, and each façade can thus stand out in the most appropriate way, without the least recourse to a competition of effects. The resulting scene, peremptorily traced by these characteristic volumes, possesses in this way a rhythm of surfaces and volumes that is well worthy of a street representing a town. The building modules of the house-towers, skilfully enriched and characterised by eloquent details, have been transformed without fuss into aristocratic buildings of important aesthetic and urban importance.The Mazzoni house presents an extensive façade developed over two floors. Simple trilithic windows, lightly moulded on the lintel and window ledge divide the surface on equidistant axes. On the penultimate axis, highlighted on the second floor by a beautiful little terrace with wrought iron balustrade, the main entrance portal opens. Crowned by a longitudinal arch, set on simple flat jutting listels, closed on the light of the centering by a grate, the portal is surmounted on the crown by a coat of arms of Montegallo within a finely lobed shield which also houses the date of construction, 1710. The battens, crossed and punched, are the originals.The three remaining entrances, linteled and without important motifs, are deliberately staggered in comparison to the relative partitioning axes of the façade, so as to make the axis of the main portal stand out properly.A continuous barrel-vaulted staircase with pivot on the same axis as the hallway of the main entrance links the upper floors. The palmed decorations in relief that are evident on the hall ceiling are of note.The ground floor has a large oven and as usual houses the cellars.On the first floor two beautiful fireplaces are observed: the first, solid and grand, has a moulded tratta at the summit of 2.70 m with a central medallion that reproduces the monogram JHS: the stone is supported by a system of twofold superimposed brackets, torus above and simple volute below, set on the usual piers worked at the front in the form of semi-polygonal faceted little columns; the wooden beamed ceiling runs to almost skim the tratta of the fireplace, giving the impression that it is solidly supported by it. The second fireplace is smaller and is in a room with very old diagonally tiled flooring, which forms a rectangular fascia in front of the fireplace itself. The tratta, moulded at the top, presents a six-petalled rosette at the centre, carved in a double-outline medallion. Another room on the first floor displays an exceptional coffered wooden ceiling, set out on four elegantly emphasised fascias. On the second floor a herring-bone tiled floor of complex design can be seen, which was originally reflected in the stuccoing of the corresponding ceiling, regrettably demolished. A central mistilineous rectangle irradiates all around forming a lively and very elaborate weaving. An important detail: from the hood of the fireplace below several branches branch off which were used to warm silkworms that were set out on shelving designed especially for the purpose.Casa Sebastiani is also raised on two floors. It is lower in height but has a notable development along the road, enhanced by a succession of a good nine windows on the second floor. Two splendid portals with centering containing a grated round arch stand out. At the top, on the crown the coat of arms of the Sebastiani family stands out, with its two fielded shield, three stars in the top one and an S in the one below. The moulding element is very elegant. The arches rest on grooved fascias placed within two rests. The piers rest on a bayed stylobate with central stylised rosette. The first portal stands out thanks to the stupendous central batten with fixed side wings, all decorated by three rows of polygonal tiles in relief formed by special listels in the relative framing. For the distinctiveness and elegance of the design, this building, very damaged, requires urgent restoration. A room on the ground floor which is entered by a specific portal displays the very old, stupendous pharmacy of the Sebastiani family. It is a barrel arched room, the ceiling and uppers fascias of which contain a fresco. On the ceiling a mock coffered motif is presented, with a central rosette; on the fascias, dotted by vases of flowers, little cupids are seen between candelabras decorated with acanthus, in the centre of the background, there is a fulsome portrayal of Esculapio, the pagan god of medicine, flanked by little cupids in flowered garlands. The XIX century decoration, due to an able disciple of neoclassical painting, well-represented in Ascoli by the work of Fogliari, constitutes the ideal culmination of our tour. Bibliography:
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