Collegiata di San Martino, Caldarola

The factory of the Collegiate Church of San Martino, which stands at the center of the east side of the present Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II in Caldarola and is presented inside as a three-aisled building with a choir and side chapels, the nave slightly trapezoidal in shape. The masonry triumphal arch divides the nave from the space of the chancel, this space planimetrically is marked by the balustrade made of balatino plaster stone, placed on a step. On the back wall of the Chancel stands the monumental complex of the High Altar, framed by two imposing fluted columns with Corinthian capitals, which, according to legend, were brought to Rome from the temple in Jerusalem and then had the cardinal transported to Caldarola; in the center is the large framed canvas, the work of Simone De Magistris, who decorated the church internally, but there is no trace of these works, probably due to the 1799 earthquake. On the walls of the chancel a copy of Raphael's Virgin contrasts with the large canvas of Guido Reni's copy of the school's Crucifixion. In the nave, as you enter, to the right is the first chapel of the Holy Crucifix, with the Chapel of the Relic of St. Destro nearby; the last chapel is that of the altar of Our Lady of Mount Carmel by Giovanni Andrea De Magistris, father of Simone. In the left aisle, the first chapel is that of the baptismal font; the middle chapel to the Blessed Sacrament and is closed by a beautifully crafted wrought-iron gate and contains a very special gilded wooden tabernacle dated 1595; the last chapel is dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel. On the southward side of the chancel through a small doorway, one enters the sacristy, which consists of a room of considerable size, with a floor of antique terracotta squares, the walls decorated in tempera, turn-of-the-century, and with an ornate wooden ceiling. On the opposite side is the sacristy of the Confraternities.