Madonna del Parto, Former rock-cut church in Sutri, Italy

Madonna del Parto is a church of the 13th–14th century cut entirely into the tuff at the foot of the Savorelli hill in Sutri, so that from outside only a rock face with a doorway and a small arched window shows. Inside, a square entrance vestibule leads to a rectangular hall with three naves divided by ten tuff pillars per side; the central nave has a barrel vault, the side naves, about one metre wide, flat ceilings and a bench cut into the tuff along their outer perimeter. A rectangular apse zone closes the hall.

The hypogeum, excluding the later apse, was originally a sanctuary of Mithras dating from the 1st–2nd century, with an initiation basin still set in its floor. It was Christianised in the 4th century, and the central slab of the Mithraic taurobolium was removed; it now stands in the wall of a farmhouse on the via Cassia at La Botte. The rock-cut church itself dates from the 13th–14th century.

The church takes its name from a 14th-century fresco of the Virgin with the newborn Child, later moved into the protected enclosure. In the entrance vestibule, frescoes show the Madonna and Saints, Saint Christopher and scenes from the life of Saint Michael of Gargano. The apse area keeps remains of frescoes of the Nativity.

The church is cut into the tuff at the foot of the Savorelli hill, in Sutri's archaeological zone outside the old town, so it is reached on foot from the borgo. The entrance is a doorway in the rock face, up a short flight of worn stone steps; the interior is unlit by daylight except near the openings, so bring a torch. The site belongs to the Parco urbano dell'antichissima Città di Sutri, established in 1988.

The central slab of the Mithraic taurobolium was removed from the floor and now stands in the wall of a farmhouse on the via Cassia, near the La Botte hamlet, a few metres from the road. The baptismal font used for water initiation into the Mithraic mysteries remains in the floor.