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Santa Maria in Vineis

The Chiesetta Santa Maria in Vineis was certainly built after the Hungarian invasions of the 10th century; around it, a cemetery was created, which has now disappeared. On the facade of the Chiesetta, equipped with a bell gable with a bell bifora, there are still numerous fragments of a fresco now unfortunately unreadable.

The interior features a semicircular apse and a rectangular nave on whose walls is found one of the most important fresco cycles in Friuli that can be dated to the fifth or sixth decade of the 1300s; the artistic level is such that the frescoes have been attributed to Vitale da Bologna, Masolino da Panicale, and Tommaso da Modena.

The fresco cycle begins on the left wall (entering from the main door) and is divided into four panels that narrate the stories of Mary and her family; particularly, the first two panels tell the story of Joachim and Anne, respectively the father and mother of the Virgin Mary, the third depicts the birth of Mary, and the last represents the Madonna enthroned with Child surrounded by Saints. On the triumphal arch that separates the nave from the apse, the Annunciation is depicted, while on the right wall of the nave, divided into three panels, the story of the Child Jesus is narrated. 

The first panel depicts the Nativity of Christ, the second the Adoration of the Magi, and the last the Flight into Egypt. On the counter-facade, the Last Judgment is represented with the depiction in the lower part of paradise on the left and hell on the right.

Other points of interest of:
Churches and votive chapels