| The church is one of the oldest at Martina and presumably dates from the 14th century, the period of the Angevin foundation of the place. Over the centuries the little church underwent various modifications; the biggest ones were in the 17th century. The structure is characterized by a modest rectangular hall and by late medieval architectural elements to be seen above all on the outside. Indeed, the building has a roof with raised pitches intersecting with a covering done with the typical chiancarelle. The façade is marked by an ogival portal, a lunette niche and a small rose window with a radial arrangement. It is all crowned by a light sail bell tower with a single archway.
There is a vast figurative repertoire in the decorations of the church walls, with a complex painterly cycle dating from the 17th century and several times retouched. The stratifications of frescoes and the most evident retouches are visible above all on the wall behind the high altar. Here the mural painting was heavily retouched in 1802 by the local painter Francesco Carella, the son of Domenico Carella. From an iconographic point of view, in the centre there stands out the effigy of the Virgin and below St. Nicholas surrounded by saints. The strip below clearly shows the existence of earlier frescoes.
Turning clockwise, on the groin you glimpse the elegant figure of an individual, perhaps the person that commissioned the church. On the right there follow the paintings of St. Anthony Abbot, Pietas and the Madonna of the Rosary with the clypei bearing the most significant episodes from the life of Christ. On the wall to the side of the entrance you perceive St. Anthony of Padua on one side and St. Francis of Paola on the other. The frescoes on the left wall are in a very poor state; you can make out The slaughter of the innocents and St. Margaret. |