The first church of San Bartolomeo in Viterbo dates back to 1142 and housed the remembrances of Saint Lucia and Saint Eligius, who was the protector of the guild of silversmiths, goldsmiths and blacksmiths who gathered in a nearby house.
In 1557, the Duchess Girolama Orsini built a cloistered monastery to house the nuns of the order of Santa Chiara and inaugurated the Monastery of the Visitation.
To do this she bought a building adjacent to the church of San Bartolomeo.
But due to a problem with the religious order, the monastery was entrusted to the Cistercian nuns, who came from the convent of San Donato in Polverosa, and who still lead it.
In 1574 the church was entrusted to the nuns who closed the alley that separated the two buildings.
Finally in the early seventeenth century the medieval church was demolished to build a new one which is called ‘della duchessa’ in honour of Girolama Orsini Farnese.
The style therefore appears neoclassical enriched by floral decorations and a curvilinear element that separates the two sections of the facade.
On the entrance door there is the coat of arms of the Farnese family, the famous lilies, while on the entrance door there is a dove as a symbol of the holy spirit.
The church has a single nave with a rich coffered ceiling from 1672 made by Giovan Battista Magni of Modena.
Above the entrance there is a seventeenth-century choir with a nineteenth-century organ.
A baroque bell tower is placed at the back of the church and gives lightness to the whole complex.
The body of San Crescenziano, co-protector of Viterbo, is kept in the church.
After the Unification of Italy the monastery risked nationalization but the nuns succeeded in its redemption and the complex maintained its religious vocation.
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