San Fortunato, Todi


San Fortunato is a Gothic- and Renaissance-style, Roman Catholic church in the center of Todi, province of Perugia, region of Umbria, Italy.

History

The church was built likely at the site of an ancient Roman hill-top temple. It later hosted a shrine to the martyr San Cassiano; however, the acquisition of the relics of San Fortunato made the church a site for his veneration. A Benedictine monastery became attached to the church by the 1100s, and the church was expanded, creating altars dedicated to the Saints Fortunato, Cassiano, and John the Baptist, consecrated by Pope Innocent III in 1198.
The church was acquired by the Franciscan order by 1292, and led to the construction of the church building we see today. Only the lower portion of the facade was faced in polished stone; the rest remains in bare brick. The facade was designed in the first half of the 15th century by Giovanni di Santuccio of Firenzuola. Built from 1295 to 1460, the church has a Gothic central portal, with richly decorated spiraling pilasters, leafy and animal details, and depictions a saints and apostles. The sculptures flanking the portal are attributed to followers of Jacopo della Quercia. The portal is reached through elaborate levels of stairs. The interior has a nave divided from the aisles by compound piers. The vault displays gothic tracery, and the apse has tall lancet windows.
The interior has fragments of frescoes by Masolino da Panicale, depicting a Madonna and child with Angels. In the Cappella Gregoriana is an altarpiece by Andrea Polinori. The chapel's frescoes were completed by Niccolò di Vannuccio. The chapel also has wooden choir stalls with intaglio by Antonio Maffei. The Cappella dell'Assunta arising from the left nave was frescoed by Andrea Polinori. The crypt has a tomb of the locally revered, but not beatified, 13th-century mystic and poet Jacopone da Todi.
There is also a San Fortunato church in Covignano, province of Rimini.