Collegiate Church of St. Sylvester Pope

The earliest written record of this church dates back to 1177, but as it was in a list of properties of the monastery of St. Elijah, the building clearly was already in some state of completion already by then. Art historians have not come to agreement on who painted the apse and the two side niches (Madonna of the Rosary, the symbol of the sacraments with seven streams gushing from the cross, paintings that were covered, and partly restored in 1954). The only thing certain is the date of the murals, which is written in the main apse: 1556. Local tradition attributes them to Taddeo Zuccari, who worked on the decoration of the Palazzo Farnese at Caprarola, while others advance the name of Guido da Viterbo, but historian Cesare Verani attributes them to the brothers Bartholomew and Lorenzo Torresani, who were heavily influenced by the school of Raphael. In the apse you can admire the majestic Glory of the Blessed Redeemer surrounded by the symbols of the Passion, which is very reminiscent of that found in rooms in the Vatican painted by Raphael. In the drum below are represented: the Last Supper, with a background of perfectly constructed architectural scenes, the Crucifixion and the Flagellation. These frescoes were restored in 1955. Along the nave are the side altars with lively, expressive paintings by more recent and still anonymous authors: entering from the left are the Annunciation, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Gaetano, St. Francis, St. Rose of Viterbo, the souls in purgatory and the Assumption. Under the main altar the body of St. Justin Martyr was preserved, covered with wax and moved to Rome on September 22, 1791.