Its foundation dates back to around 1078-1088 and the council of the village was announced by the sound of the bells of its bell tower, which today no longer exists.
In 1092 it was declared a Collegiate, that is one governed by a college of 12 priests.
The name of Sant’Angelo in Spatha comes from the Spatha family who had it as their responsibility.
The original Romanesque façade was destroyed with the bell tower in 1549 and rebuilt by Pope Pio IV Medici, whose coat of arms is clearly visible at the entrance next to that of the Piccolomini.
Originally the church had 3 naves with 3 apses, while with the reconstruction of the XVIII century it is a single space in neoclassical style.
Among the works of art inside it, a triptych and a fourteenth-century crucifix and a Madonna and Child among the saints of 1600 by Filippo Cavarozzi from Viterbo.
Another noteworthy work is an altar in baroque carved gilded wood.
Its façade is today in simple plaster and is adorned by the sepulchre of the Bella Galiana, an Etruscan-Roman sarcophagus supported by two columns and with a depiction of the fight between a sow and a lion.
The history of Bella Galiana takes up the legend that Viterbo was founded by Trojan refugees.
In accordance with their history, the inhabitants of Viterbo raised a large white pig (troia) to which a young virgin was offered each year on Easter Sunday.
When this lot fell to the beautiful, transparent-skinned Galiana, a lion ran to her aid and took her with him to the forest.
Since then human sacrifices were stopped, the church of Santa Maria della Scrofa was built while Galiana grew and was admired by all for its beauty.
But the fate of the girl was not so lucky, because a Roman soldier tried to have her at all costs and her father decided to kill her rather than leave her to the Roman.
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