Commissioned around the mid-8th century by Astolfo, Duke of Friuli and future King, alongside his wife Giseltrude, the Lombard Temple stands as the most intact and significant architectural testimony of its era. Also known as the Oratory of Santa Maria in Valle, it is located in the Borgo Brossana area of Cividale del Friuli. The structure originated as a palatine chapel on the site of the gastaldia, the ducal residence and seat of government. When the site was transformed into the Santa Maria in Valle monastery for Benedictine nuns, the complex absorbed the nearby church of San Giovanni in Valle and the temple, which took on its new Marian dedication. In June 2011, its seamless blend of purely Lombard motifs with classical Roman, Carolingian, and Ottonian models earned it a place on the UNESCO World Heritage list, as part of the "Longobards in Italy: Places of the Power" serial site. Archaeological excavations have also revealed that this early medieval building rests over late-Roman and early-Christian structures.
What to see
The highly sober exterior completely conceals the richness of the interior. The main space consists of a square hall covered by a spacious cross vault, terminating in a lower presbytery. This presbytery is divided into three parallel barrel-vaulted bays by four paired columns and two rectangular pillars, and is separated from the hall by an iconostasis parapet. On the back wall of the hall, near the richly ornamented portal that once led to the convent, sits a fifteenth-century wooden choir loft.
The temple's undisputed masterpiece covers the ancient western entrance wall, displaying an extraordinary array of stuccos and frescoes. The door's lunette is framed by intertwined vines and grapes; its center depicts Christ between the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, flanked by a frescoed band of Martyrs. Above this is an elaborate openwork vine frieze, framed by rosettes that originally held glass pearls. The upper level, freely superimposed over the windows, features six monumental stucco relief figures of female Saints in an exceptional state of preservation. Their garments feature straight, Byzantine-inspired folds, yet the figures stand out for their classical volume and a strong verticalism emphasized by the long tunics. The stucco decoration, originally partially colored, remains unfinished on the side walls. While the apse's original mosaics have been lost entirely, several cycles of frescoes survive.
Visiting
The temple is located within the Orsoline monastery, which succeeded the Benedictine nuns. Current access to the municipally-owned complex is through an ancient wooden door in the cloister. The exit route offers an entirely different perspective: visitors cross a modern walkway overhanging the Natisone river, leading to the sacristy and a secondary entrance set into the presbytery wall. Detached fresco fragments from the chapel can be viewed inside the sacristy, as well as in the Christian museum of the Duomo.
Our editors' tip
Pay close attention to the stucco rosettes framing the frieze above the main lunette: try to picture how the space would have gleamed in the eighth century when these recesses held original glass pearls, adding a brilliant touch to the now-lost polychromy of the walls.
