Marche Breaks

A quite road snakes through some of the southern Marche's gentlest and most appealing countryside to this simple unassuming hill town. It is named after the Roman martyr whose body was brought here by monks in 930. Her magnificent marble sarcophagus, supported on two pillars, stands in the crypt of the parish church, at the far end of the town.

Built in 890 by the Abbat of Farfa Pietro I, it became the strategic centre for all the farfense possessions in Marche. The Abbat Raffredo, in around 930, brought in the village the relics of “Vergine e Martire Vittoria” to protect them from Saracen raids. The relics of Vergine Vittoria, who was a member of a noble roman family, are still preserved in a marble urn in the sanctuary of Collegiata.

San Vittoria in Matenano became an indipendent Town Hall in the 13th century and, in 1406, it had its own statute still held in custody in the municipal archives together with other valuable parchments.

The village was even an important literary and artistic centre as many books and codices show and one of them represents the oldest document in vulgar of this region: it is the famous monastic miscellaneous codex with the ancient “Regola Benedettina” of the 10th century.

The Town Hall preserves, till now, the ancient medieval map that includes many monuments of remarkable interest. Entering into the old town we can see the beautiful embattled tower built in the 14th century, houses erected with remains of medieval buildings and palaces built in 15th century.

The church of Sant’Agostino, built in the 16th century, preserves an ancient organ that distinguishes itself for the unusual polychromy.

In the upper part of the village is located the sanctuary of Collegiata, and on its right side, there is the so-called “cappellone” that is the remaining part of a farfense building destroyed in 1771.

It still preserves frescoes and paintings.