The Tempio del Santissimo Crocifisso, also spelled as Tempio del SS Crocifisso (Temple of the Holiest Crucifix) was erected as a

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,

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

sanctuary church on Via del Crocifisso #10, about 200 meters Northeast of the Porta Romana, just east of former medieval walls of

Todi Todi (; ''Tuder'' in antiquity) is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) of the province of Perugia (region of Umbria) in central Italy. It is perched on a tall two-crested hill overlooking the east bank of the river Tiber, commanding distant view ...

province of Perugia The province of Perugia () is the larger of the two provinces in the Umbria region of Italy, comprising two-thirds of both the area and population of the region. Its capital is the city of Perugia. The province covered all of Umbria until 1927, w ...

, region of

Umbria Umbria ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region of central Italy. It includes Lake Trasimeno and Cascata delle Marmore, Marmore Falls, and is crossed by the Tiber. It is the only landlocked region on the Italian Peninsula, Apennine Peninsula. The re ...

, Italy. It now serves as a parish church.

History

The church has been compared with the other architectural Renaissance jewel found on the outskirts of Todi, the Bramantesque sanctuary church of

Santa Maria della Consolazione The Church of Santa Maria della Consolazione is a Roman Catholic baroque style church at the foot of the Palatine Hill in rione Campitelli, Rome, Italy. The shrine is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Consolati ...

. Like many sanctuary churches, the layout is centralized, although unlike the Consolazione church, the dome of the church here has been enclosed in rectangular box-like arms. The walls are made of brick but highlighted by doric pilasters. The tall facades are nearly equivalent in all arms except for the entrance portal with a triangular pediment. The construction of a church at the site was commissioned under Bishop Angelo Cesi in 1566. At this site there was a roadside aedicule with a 14th-century image of the Madonna known as the Maestà delle Forche (Majesty of the gallows). The site was also used for executions hence the link to a gallows. In 1566, Cesi noting the devotion to this image, decided to build the church; Cesi did not lay the first stone until 1591. The design of this church has a complex attribution. Tradition has held that it was either by or inspired directly by a plan 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 ...

, but it would have to have been a posthumous derivation since that architect died in 1514. Some have attributed the original inspiration to Bramante's famous ''Tempietto'' (1502) at

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, but while this honors the structure's centralized plan, the Tempietto has a truly circular layout unlike this rectangular church. Some have attributed the design to the architect Valentino Martelli from Perugia, but also claimed it was derivative from the models of either the other Sistine Chapel (circa 1585–1590) in

Santa Maria Maggiore Santa Maria Maggiore (), also known as the Basilica of Saint Mary Major or the Basilica of Saint Mary the Great, is one of the four Basilicas in the Catholic Church#Major and papal basilicas, major papal basilicas and one of the Seven Pilgrim C ...

in Rome or the church of

(1588) in Montefalco. The construction was under the direction of the Pietro Paolo Sensini of Todi, who is known to have worked with Martelli. Construction of this church continued until the early decades of the 17th-century, employing the direction of other local architects Giovanni Domenico Bianchi, and starting in 1594,

Ippolito Scalza Ippolito Scalza (153222 December 1617) was a sculptor and architect of the Italian Renaissance, active in his native Orvieto as well as Todi and other towns in Umbria. Biography and works Ippolito was born in Orvieto to a family of moderate reso ...

from Orvieto. By 1610, the original devotional image of the Maesta had been placed at the high altar. However, recent scholarship has also unearthed at the library of the

Accademia di San Luca The Accademia di San Luca () is an Italian academy of artists in Rome. The establishment of the Accademia de i Pittori e Scultori di Roma was approved by papal brief in 1577, and in 1593 Federico Zuccari became its first ''principe'' or director; ...

in Rome, a plan of an externally quadrangular and internally hexagonal church, found in an anonymous folio belonging to the Bolognese architect

Octavian Mascarino Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

(1536-1606). The document from 1589, matches plans for this church in Todi, and has been attributed to the architect

Ascanio Vitozzi Ascanio Vitozzi (also spelled Ascanio Baschi di Vitozzo or Vittozzi) (1539–23 October 1615) was an Italian soldier, architect, and military engineer. Born at Orvieto, the son of Ercole Lord of Montevitozzo (or Vitozzo), he fought in the Papal a ...

of Bolsena, who designed the church of Santissima Trinità in Turin (1598).Su una misconosciuta pianta per il tempio del Santissimo Crocifisso a Todi
by Maurizio Ricci, Quaderni dell'Istituto di Storia dell'Architettura: 72, 2020. DOI: 10.48255/1232.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crocifisso Todi Churches in Todi Renaissance architecture in Umbria 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Centralized-plan churches in Italy