The church of San Pietro alla Carità is one of the oldest in Tivoli. According to the sources it was built in the fifth century at the wish of Pope Simplicius, a native of the town, on the remains of a Roman villa that probably belonged to Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica, and was dedicated to the apostle Peter because of a legend that the Christian community he founded met here.
What to see
The first mention of the church is in the biography of Pope Leo III, in the Liber pontificalis. Its present Romanesque appearance is due to the twelfth-century rebuilding and to the restoration of 1951, which removed the heavy sixteenth- and seventeenth-century alterations and gave the church back to the town after the bombing of 1944.
The brick façade has three doors leading into the central part of the building; above are two side windows and a central oculus under the eaves. The bell tower is decorated with cornices and arched windows. Inside, the nave is adorned with a Cosmatesque floor. In the apse, over the high altar, are a Christ crucified between the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist, from the fourteenth century, and a Madonna enthroned with Saints Peter and Paul, from the thirteenth.
Visiting
The church is in Tivoli. The sources consulted give no opening hours: check them on the spot or with the diocese.
Our editors' tip
In the third season of the series «Medici», the scenes of Girolamo Savonarola in the Florentine convent of San Marco were shot here: the façade and bell tower can be seen when the friar preaches to the crowd, and the interior appears in some scenes.
