People in Cagli have always been used to saying that in their town “there are as many churches as taverns”. Amazing, indeed, and imposing, are the number and the beauty of religious buildings existing in so small a town. At every corner a glimpse appears of the façades of such great shrines as St. Francis’, the most ancient church in Marche dedicated to the saint from Assisi, or the Basilica of St. Mary’s Assumption, the main shrine in Cagli. A special mention deserves also St Dominic’s where a precious work of art is kept, one of Cagli’s prides.
It is the celebrated Tiranni Chapel, painted in the early nineties of the XV century by Giovanni Santi, Raphael’s father. Probably his masterpiece, it was his illustrious child’s starting point for some of his first works. The chapel was commissioned to the artist by Pietro Tiranni to try and overcome through art his grief after his beloved wife’s death. In the two tondos of the arches’ pendentives is represented the Annunciation; on the bottom wall there are, high, Christ’s Resurrection and, lower, the Sacred Conversation. In the latter’s skilled set of figures, rich with magnificent details, the little angel on Mary’s right is a portrait of young Raphael, while St. John the Baptist’s face reproduces the author’s features. Along with the Chapel, in the church there are other important works, by Santi himself and by other celebrated artists, including the Presentation at the Temple by Gaetano Lapis, from Cagli. Churches worth visiting are not placed within the city walls only. Out of the city a sanctuary was recently restored dedicated to St. Mary of the Stars, built on a place where according to the tradition the Madonna once appeared.
The restoration brought back to light beautiful frescoes, dating from the XVI century, which certainly deserve being visited and admired.
Cagli