Mazzatosta Chapel, Renaissance chapel in Santa Maria della Verità, Viterbo, Italy
The Mazzatosta Chapel is a small chapel with a square floor plan and ribbed vaults that create a structured interior space. Its walls are entirely covered with colorful frescoes, and a metal gate marks the formal entrance to the room.
An artist named Lorenzo da Viterbo painted the frescoes of this chapel in 1469 after being hired by a local merchant. The decoration remained largely unchanged for centuries until war in the 1940s severely damaged the interior.
The frescoes show scenes from the Virgin Mary's life woven together with portraits of people who mattered in the local community. This blend of religious narrative and recognizable faces gives visitors a window into who held power in medieval Viterbo.
The chapel sits inside a larger church building and can only be visited during the church's opening hours. Access may sometimes be restricted, so it is worth checking beforehand whether the chapel is open to visitors.
The artist Lorenzo da Viterbo painted himself into one of the frescoes, standing beside the wealthy merchant who commissioned his work. This hidden signature is an unusual way Renaissance artists marked their creations.
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