OF ST. SECONDO
The abbey of St. Secondo was built in the twelfth century on the ruins of a temple that belonged to the Silvestrini monks. The building consists of three parts: the first Benedectine abbey was established on the site on a Christian cemetery, the second dates back to the Romanesque period, the third is from the 1500’s.
The Abbey played a role of considerable political importance that we see as it becomes witness to major historical events such as the Peace Treaty between Amelia and Todi, which was signed here. The interior of the church is in Baroque style and is divided into two rooms: the actual sacred room and the Oratory of the Confraternity of the Good Death.
There one can admire a beautiful wooden choir stands, holy vestments belonging to the confraternity that still exists, as well as some interesting paintings. Next to the abbey there is an impressive Romanesque tower. Two Roman artefacts were documented in San Secondo in sketches (1564) by the sculptor and antiquarian Giovanni Antonio Dosio (San Gimignano, 1533 – Caserta, 1611), that survive in the Staatsbibliothek, Berlin: a cylindrical marble altar (1st century BC) with reliefs of dancing figures, is now in the Museo Archeologico (riferimento pannello nr. 3); an important inscription written in archaic Latin language (2th century BC), which has unfortunately been lost, recorded that Titus Pettius, son of Titus, grandson of Titus had made a gift to “Iove Optumo Maxsumo” (Jove, Optimus Maximus, the supreme god of the Roman pantheon).