Art: Pinturicchio
Walking through the centre of Spello, a square appears in front of the most important church in the town: Santa Maria Maggiore. Tradition has it that it was built on the ruins of a temple sacred to Juno and Vesta. The original Romanesque plan gave way to a Baroque imprint that today, especially on the façade, delineates the present-day structure flanked by the imposing pointed belltower from the Romanesque period. Inside the church in the shape of a latin cross with a single nave is the extraordinary Baglioni Chapel, also called “Cappella Bella” (the beautiful chapel), by Bernardino di Betto, known as Pinturicchio, a follower along with Raffaello, of Perugino. The frescoes that decorate the “Cappella Bella” are evidence of the maturity and harmony that Pinturicchio succeeded in achieving in what is considered one of the great masterpieces of Italian art, sublime expression of the value of the Umbrian School during the Renaissance.