Santa Maria in Portonovo

The church with its annexed monastery (destroyed)was, to our knowledge, the only existing building in the area of the two gulfs of Portonovo. So it has been for about 680 years, until the tower was built in 1716 and even later the Napoleonic Fort, around 1808. We must therefore imagine the following setting: mountain, sea, church and monastery. No town, no roads, exept for narrow path that probably connected the site with the top of the mountain. Such an environment was certainly not too different from the ones the Benedectines usually chose for the construction of the churches and monastery (Pope Alexander III states in 1177 that it is mandatory here to observe the Benedectine rule). This extraordinary monastic order founded in the VI° century by St. Benedict and had established that his monks should pray and work: "Ora et Labora". The timing of these two activities is accurately established in the Rule, a booklet in wich St. Benedict gives his monks the guidelines to be followed. A chapter of the Rule will help us find the reason why no "paternity" is known that can be related to the author of such a gorgeous romanesque example of art. "...Should there be artisans in the monastery, they should carry on their art with great humility, and always if the abbot will allow it..." We should therefore not be surprised if no name can be associated with the church, in accordance with the Rule: humility as synonim of anonimity. The Benedectines' work was also the heavy one of the fields, the woods;we have information regarding their activities as timbermen, as qualified engineers who would modify the course of waterways thus allowing the water to defend their buildings from incursion. We owe very much, even today, to this order, silent custodian of libraries and archives (not here, unfortunately) of invaluable importance. His Eminence Pietro Cardinal Palazzini, in the presentation of the volume "Santa Maria a pič di Chienti" by Raffaella Cortese de Bosis gives this definition of benedectine art: "an artistic impulse wich has had its center in southern and central Italy from the IX° to the XII° centuries. The huge religious, political, social, importance of the benedectine order has had, especially during the Middle Ages, is reflected in many different directions, always maintaining a particular character." Let us know describe this expression of he art of the Benedictines in Portonovo. The construction of the church, according to Sacconi, Serra, Marinelli and Aurini, dates back to the XI° century, Kroning attributes it to no earlier that the XII°, Costantini says it has been totally rebuilt in the XIII°. Tere is therefore no agreement as far as its foundation date. The first avilable information dates back to 1034. The document was kept in the Cathedral of Ancona and can only be now read as a copy, since the original is lost, thus causing doubts regarding its authenticity. (And having mentioned the destiny of a medieval document, I feel the need to cite a disastrous event that took place in Corridonia, here in the Marche region, when in 1936, because of a visit Mussolini was going to pay to this town, one or more of thr rooms where the ancient archives was housed, were emptied of the invaluable documents wich were dumped in the piazza in armfulls. The rooms were supposed to be adapted for a school for radiotelegraphist!) The importance of this monastery is testified by several papal documents (Alexander III, 1177, Lucius III. 1184 and Honorius III, 1222); importance that rose and fell in a span of about 300 years. In fact around 1320 the monks beg the Bishop of Ancona, Nicolņ degli Ungari to allow them to leave Portonovo:"there are landslides, we have victims, we must leave from here!"The Bishop gives his consent, the monastery becomes an empty shell: this sad moment marks the beginning of the decline of the abbey. The religious community heads towards the church of St. Martin in Ancona. This marvellous site by the sea became a wasteland, hit by indifference, though remaining under the jurisdiction of the Cathedral of Ancona. It begins, in no time, to give evident signs of suffering wich reach the point of no return for the monastery and cause serious consequences to the church. In spite of these events, what remains for us to admire here is still quite significant. Tanks to a massive restauration project dorected by Arch. Sacconi in 1894 and the impressive one recentely concluded (1988 - 1996) carried out by the Ancona Superintendence, the church was given its wonderful halo of a tradition wich saw it as a witness of a man's work in search of Faith. And to quote Arch. Sacconi's own words: "the church is a miracle of harmony" : a basilical structure with romanesque-lombard features divided into five naves, two of wich , the furthermost on both sides of the main altar, are much shorter. A very similar plan is the one of the Franch church of Cerisy la Foret. A plan dated 1929 shows an additional space built on the left side (see plan). The dome, of byzantine inspration, is externally square and becomes octagonal as it stems out. The rays of the sun entering the church from the heigth seem to alter the visual dimension, givin us the impression of being within a much larger space. The church measures about 250 sq.mt. (26.63mx18.93m). The central nave is barrel vaulted while the others are rib vaulted. The floor, in its red brick and beige stone, combined with the white of the rest of the building gives a unique chromatic touch. The vestibule was built after the main body of the church. Ligth comes in through a rectangular window opened in the facade, the result of an arbitrary solution applied probably last century. The main altar is oriented towards the apse. The original altar stone, to prevent its destruction, was taken to the Cathedral of Ancona where it still is and proper arrangements, we hope, will be made to bring it back to it's original place. A picture of the Madonna, object of great devotion, was placed over the main altar. It was found in terrible conditions in a field by the church by a farmer who took it with him, and it restored and gave it to the church of S.Blaise at Poggio of Ancona where it can still be seen. Instead of the picture, what we can see today is the work of a catholic russian artist, Gregory Maltzeff, painted after 1933, of byzantine inspiration, Holy Mary Stella Maris. It was donated to this church by the Fumasoni-Biondi family. Worthy of attention is also a niche which was built after thr construction of the main body of the church and placed inside a closed doorway on the rigth side, in simmetry with the one on the left. No image is visible any longer, but such framing was usually made around votive images of the Madonna or venerated saints. A glimpse at the capitals both of the naves and of the semi-columns of the central nave. These could be schematic descendants of those called "a foglie d'acqua" ("water leaf shaped") wich exist in the crypt of the church of St. Eusebius in Pavia. On the capitals of the semicolumns there are several symbols. Inside the church we notice that the two windows of the apses of the left and far right respectively, and this allows the sunlight to enter and distribute its rays all around. And, outside. Simmetry and asimmetry coexist:a perfect harmony. All the doors, except for the front entrance are on the left side of the monument facing the sea, while on the right side there is a tace of a door that has been closed with stones. And over the top of the second door of thr rigth side, there are few letters of the dedication (...MT...IM...EC...RIS...ET CALOI...?) of the church that framed the lunette containing a basrelief probably of the Madonna with Donor. Just to add a little historical element, we know that S. Gaudenzio bishop of Ossaro (today Croazia) was buried here before being taken to Ossaro adn S. Pier Damiani, a benedectine Himself and one of the strongest personalities of the II° century church may have lived here, if Dante's own word's from The Divin Commedy (Paradise, XXI/120-123) truly reffer to the site (Lito Adriano). The Bishop of Ancona, Mons. Festorazzi, as recently (June 26, 1996) reopened the church of the faithful.