Santa Maria della Peste is a small,

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

-style, octagonal temple-chapel (tempietto) located on Piazza del Caduti in

Viterbo Viterbo (; Central Italian, Viterbese: ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Lazio region of Italy, the Capital city, capital of the province of Viterbo. It conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium) in ...

, region of

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

, Italy. It has now been converted into a chapel dedicated to those fallen (caduti) in the wars of the 20th century. Across the piazza and Via Filippo Ascenzi is the church of San Giovanni Battista degli Almadiani.

History and description

The tempietto was built at the beginning of the 16th century to give thanks to the Virgin Mary for the ending of the epidemic of 1493–1494. The scourges for that year seem to consist of both

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms depend on the stage it presents: primary, secondary, latent syphilis, latent or tertiary. The prim ...

and the

bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of Plague (disease), plague caused by the Bacteria, bacterium ''Yersinia pestis''. One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and ...

. Epidemics recurrently affected towns in Europe over the centuries, with plague affecting Viterbo in 1363, 1374, 1400, 1463, 1476, 1522, 1566, and 1657.F. Bussi. The architect is unknown, but the octagonal layout with a small domed roof recalls another contemporary

tempietto by

Bramante Donato Bramante (1444 – 11 April 1514), born as Donato di Pascuccio d'Antonio and also known as Bramante Lazzari, was an Italian architect and painter. He introduced Renaissance architecture to Milan and the High Renaissance style to Rom ...

San Pietro in Montorio San Pietro in Montorio (English: "Saint Peter on the Golden Mountain") is a church in Rome, Italy, which includes in its courtyard the ''Tempietto'', a small commemorative ''martyrium'' ('martyry') built by Donato Bramante. History The Church o ...

in Rome. In the last century, the chapel has been rededicated to those who died in wars.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria della Peste Viterbo

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

Renaissance architecture in Lazio

Octagonal churches in Italy