The small temple of Santa Maria della Peste was built in 1494 based on a promise made for the narrow escape from the terrible plague that had struck the Viterbo area in those years.
From an inscription on the glazed majolica floor we read that it was made by Paolo Mazzatosta (famous for a medieval palace in the historic centre) and a wheat farmer named Martino.
Legend has it that at this point a sacred image was found and that those who came to worship it were saved from the plague.
The building is an octagonal-shape little temple in an almost Renaissance style and ending with a dome with a small light opening.
The building on its various sides has an elegant entrance door in carved peperino stone and surmounted by a circular aperture and two openings.
In the 1930s, with the covering over of the Urcionio river and the consequent demolition of some houses, the small temple found itself in the middle of an open space and was chosen as a military shrine for the fallen of the First World War.
Inside you can admire frescoes representing Saint John and Saint Sebastian.
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