Chiesa di Santa Maria della Verità
On the quiet side of Viterbo's old centre, a plain grey facade of peperino stone gives almost nothing away. Step through the single 16th-century portal and the interior opens into a Latin-cross nave where Romanesque solidity meets a Gothic transept hung on four slender columns, and the ceiling above you carries painted wooden panels — a few of them original 15th-century work, signed by Paolo di Matteo.
The reason most people come, though, is a small chapel on the right: the Mazzatosta chapel, its floor still covered in original majolica tiles by Paolo di Nicola, its walls given over to Lorenzo da Viterbo's 1469 frescoes of the Life of the Virgin — the life's work of a painter who died at twenty-five and never left the city.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who come back tend to linger at the Mazzatosta chapel's wrought iron railing rather than rushing inside — the frescoes read differently once you know Lorenzo was barely in his twenties when he painted them. Weekend openings for the chapel can depend on volunteers; a quick call to the number on the door beforehand saves a wasted trip.
The story behind Chiesa di Santa Maria della Verità
Premonstratensian canons are said to have founded a church here, originally dedicated to San Macario, in the second half of the 12th century. When they left for Rome in 1231 the building stood empty until the Servants of Mary took it over and renamed it Santa Maria della Verità. The Bussi family funded an enlargement around the mid-14th century, adding the semicircular apse; the structure was rebuilt more or less as it stands today in the 15th century. A reported apparition of the Virgin to three children in 1446 deepened the church's local significance.
In 1657 the walls were whitewashed against plague, destroying much of what had come before. The 1944 Allied bombing caused severe structural damage, and the post-war reconstruction accounts for the stark facade visible today. The Mazzatosta chapel survived and was painstakingly restored by the Central Institute for Restoration in Rome. The church returned to parish use on 19 March 1961.
Good to know
Entry to the church is free. Services run Friday–Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings (hours as of late 2024 — confirm directly on +39 0761341844). The adjacent Museo Civico shares the convent and its Gothic cloister; budget extra time if you plan to visit both. Reach the piazza from the historical centre through the underground passage at Porta della Verità.
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What travellers say about Chiesa di Santa Maria della Verità
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An interesting building. The interior is majestic, with a single nave, a deep choir, and a transept. Along the right wall stands the Mazzatosta Chapel, named after the noble family who commissioned the chapel from Lorenzo da Viterbo: a marvel of 15th-century Lazio painting.
Immense and magnificent from the inside, modest and uninteresting from the outside. It is located in a busy area of the city, opposite the eponymous gate. The result of an almost complete post-war reconstruction, it retains original elements of its medieval origins (the Mazzatosta Chapel is spectacular and alone is worth a visit to Viterbo). The remains of the fresco in the side nave are beautiful (a rare example of a church with a Latin cross plan), and the floor slopes slightly. There are few works of art on display inside, but the mystical contemplation is the defining characteristic. Not to be missed.
This church contains the recently restored Mazzatosta Chapel. Frescoes by Lorenzo da Viterbo. A valuable majolica floor has been brought to light, as has the beautiful altar with its gilded stucco and sculpted Madonna. Worth a visit, as is the museum next to the church.
This beautiful church, originally intended as a civic museum, houses Etruscan sarcophagi and paintings, now moved to the adjacent rooms. The striking and luminous Mazzatosta Chapel, a precursor to Mantegna's vision, has been largely restored after being damaged during the war. The most beautiful scene is that of the Marriage of the Virgin, which bursts forth in all its beauty.
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