San Pietro extra moenia, Spoleto, Romanesque church outside the city walls, Spoleto, Italy

San Pietro extra moenia is a Romanesque church outside the city walls of Spoleto, reached by a wide 17th-century staircase. Its interior is a tall, white-plastered hall with a central nave and side aisles separated by round arches on broad, flat pilasters. A barrel-vaulted ceiling leads to a semicircular apse, and the 17th-century renovation added an elliptical dome, the only one in Umbria.

A sanctuary was first built on this site in the 5th century to house the chains of Saint Peter brought from Rome. The current building replaced it between the 12th and 13th centuries, taking on the Romanesque form that is still visible today.

The facade is covered in carved stone panels showing scenes from the life of Saint Peter alongside medieval fables meant to teach moral lessons. These carvings were created at a time when images in stone served as a way to communicate stories to people who could not read.

The church is a short walk from the center of Spoleto, on a downhill path heading south out of the old town. Inside, the floor changes level in several places, so watch your step when moving between sections.

The church keeps the bodies of two bishops: Peter (?–594), who witnessed the creation of the Lombard Duchy, and John II, bishop from 492 to 546, martyred under Totila's Goths and moved here from Sant'Eufemia at an unknown date. Marble slabs from different periods are set into the interior.