At the end of the eighteenth century Bettona wanted its main church to become a collegiate, that is to have a chapter of canons. To pay for it, the town sold off some country churches and the goods of some confraternities: it bought the prestige of its centre by liquidating its own outskirts. It is the kind of operation you read in the documents of a church and never on the labels.
What to see
The church is on the main square, facing the oratory of Sant'Andrea and a short walk from the palazzo del Podestà. Legend has it that the first building rose where saint Crispolto, today the patron of Bettona, had worked a miracle. The thirteenth-century building had a Greek-cross plan in gothic forms, and of that only the chapel dedicated to saint Rita remains.
Tradition fixes the consecration in 1225, with three bishops present, those of Assisi, Foligno and Perugia: for a hill town that was an event. But of the medieval church almost nothing is left: the present look is neoclassical and comes from the works of the early decades of the nineteenth century, to the design of the architect Giovanni Cerrini.
Visiting
The church is in piazza Cavour, in the old centre of Bettona, half an hour from Perugia and from Assisi; it is the parish church and opens for services. Half an hour.
Our editors' tip
Find the urn with the remains of saint Crispolto and remember that it is here only in passing. The patron used to be in his own church, which the earthquake of 2017 made unsafe, and since then he has been a guest of the parish church. Half of central Italy works like this: if you want to know where a tremor struck, look at where the objects have ended up.