San Pietro is a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

-style,

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

church in the center of the town of

Leonessa :''Leonessa is also the name of a ''frazione'' of Bassano Romano.'' Leonessa is a town and ''comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Province of Rieti in the Lazio region of central Italy. Its population in 2008 was around 2,700. Situated in ...

province of Rieti The Province of Rieti ( it, Provincia di Rieti) is a province in the Lazio region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Rieti. Established in 1927, it has an area of with a total population of 157,887 people as of 2017. There are 73 ''comuni'' ...

, region of

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, central Italy.

History

The church was once part of an

Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...

convent. The present church was built atop an older church structure (Santa Maria delle Grazie) which became the crypt. The church is now property of the Fondo Edifici Culto (FEC). Documents cite construction starting by 1344 but other do not cite completion until the 15th century. It is likely the plague in 1363 slowed construction. In 1422, in the attached convent, the Augustinian order of the valley of

Spoleto Spoleto (, also , , ; la, Spoletum) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome. History Spolet ...

held a general chapter. In 1609, the local clergy, and not the Augustinians, gained the right to direct funeral services in the atrium of the church. During the Napoleonic era, the government of Murat expropriated the convent for use by the government and military. In 1868, the Italian government granted the sites administration to the . In the subsequent years it underwent significant restorations. The church has a tall rectangular facade with a decorative portal in pink local stone and an asymmetric oculus. The roofline is horizontal. The portal is flanked by pilasters formed from the Romanesque stylized half-columns. In the archivolt is a statue of St John the Baptist, while flanking above on two protruding pilasters are statues of Saints Peter and Paul, patrons of the town. The tall gothic bell tower has three stories above the roofline, and stands on the left of the facade. The inferior story has a clock, which ring bells every thirty minutes. The roof is a stone octagonal cone. The single nave is flanked by altars. The second altarpiece on the right depicts the ''Holy Family'' by

Simone Pignoni Simone Pignoni (April 17, 1611 – December 16, 1698) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. He apprenticed with Fabrizio Boschi, then with the more academic and puritanical Domenico Passignano, and finally with Francesco Furini. He is ...

. The third altarpiece on the right has a ''Virgin and Child'' by

Giovanni Lanfranco Giovanni Lanfranco (26 January 1582 – 30 November 1647) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Biography Giovanni Gaspare Lanfranco was born in Parma, the third son of Stefano and Cornelia Lanfranchi, and was placed as a page in the ho ...

. The fourth altarpiece on the right displays a ''The charity of St Thomas of Villanova''.Prefettura, Government of Rieti
entry on church.

References

Roman Catholic churches in Lazio 14th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Gothic architecture in Lazio Churches in the province of Rieti {{Italy-RC-church-stub