Church of St Mary in Pistrino
The Church of St. Mary in Pristino is mentioned for the first time in a sale deed for a plot of land on September 6th, 1273. Prior to this date, the church is documented under the name of St. Andrew’s church of Pristino (specifically in documents dating back to 1155 and 1188). Until 1936, when the larger and more spacious Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was built, St. Mary was Pristino’s parish church. Built in typical Romanesque style, it features a rectangular section, trussed roof and is surmounted by a simple bell gable. In the early years of the twentieth century, several votive frescoes were discovered under the layer of plaster and in the 1930’s the first restoration works were carried out by professor emeritus Alessandro Bianchini of the Royal Superintendence of medieval art in Umbria. Such works were followed by some major interventions in the 80’s under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture and the Superintendence of Perugia. The restorations revealed a cycle of fine votive frescoes all along the inner walls of the church, made between the late fifteenth century and the early sixteenth century. This cycle includes seventeen frescoes housed by homogeneous painted frames, in different states of preservation.