San Giovanni de Butris, Acquasparta

Visited thanks to the advice of his friend Silvio Sorcini, the only church built on an old Roman bridge which is currently being completely restored and completely ruined with frescoes, it is really worth a stop

Templar Church, in the municipality of Acquasparta in the province of Terni, now owned by the Knights of Malta

According to an ancient name, the church was called of S. Giovanni de Buttis (Rationes Decimarum), a name perhaps deriving from the two arches (buttis) forming the Roman bridge on which, around the fifteenth century, this church dedicated to St. John the Baptist was built and was owned by the Hospitaller Order of the Knights of Malta. The course of the river was soon diverted to safeguard the church and the habitation of the Commendatore from the frequent floods that interested, very often, the whole valley of the Naia.Faceva part, up to the unification of Italy, of the rich patrimony of the "properties owing to the Commandery of St. John Eudes for the Holy Religion Gerosolimitana". Since then the church has been the total abandonment, devastated by the wear of time and neglect and the men theft. It is described in 1726, in the "Inventories 18", preserved in the Archives of the Episcopal Curia of Todi, with these words: “The church of St. John the Baptist of Eudes is located, located on the Flaminia road, in the territory of Acquasparta above two very strong stone arches that form a bridge. It has two doors. The main one is towards the north, above which is a stone with the following inscription "D.O.M.ac Divo Ioanni Baptiste patron Ordinis Hierosolimitani". (Of this inscription it is still visible with which the mortar was fixed above the lintel). Above the stone there is a round, or eye to illuminate the church, and on one side towards the east above the roof there is a small bell tower with a bell with the following words “Frater Camillus Barattus eques hierosolimitanus, A.D. MDLXXXX ". (Of this bell, placed on the tower until a few decades ago, there are no more tracks). The other, then smaller door is on the east side. In the said (church) there is only one altar, in the said altar, that is, in the wall are painted the sacred images, that is, in the middle S. Maria Maddalena, on the Evangelio S. Giovanni Battista side and above the Annunziata, on the other side of the epistle of St. Francis, and above the Angel Gabriel; there is also in the said side of the epistle the following inscription: "Nicolao Ioanne, Matteo, Comite ductore et Procuratore and in foot to the said paintings there is this inscription, that is, Laurentius Ventura patritius Senensis Eques Hierosolimitanus aere proprio 1602", on one side and there are also two painted arms, where above are two roses, in the middle a bar and under another rose, above the Maltese cross. Above then on the said altar hanging in the wall near the image of St. Mary Magdalene stands a very old wooden crucifix of great veneration, above the cross on which there is a scavenger ”. The "ancient" crucifix (early 14th century) is from the Umbra school and predates the present church and was highly revered. It was transported in 1888, accompanied by an immense crowd of acquaspartani, in the Church of S. Francesco and placed on the right altar entering. The same is now found in the Church of St. Cecilia. The Church of St. John of Budes, of Romanesque style, is one of the many present in the territory that overlooks the Flaminia da Carsulae in Massa Martana. We want to remember the closest ones as S. Maria Assunta in Quadrelli, S. Bartolomeo in Casteltodino, S. Lucia always in the territory of Acquasparta to the east of the Flaminia, the abbey of Villa S. Faustino, S. Maria in Pantano and SS. Terenzio and Fidenzio in the Municipality of Massa Martana. This sacred Christian building built on a bridge of a Roman consular road over two hundred years prior to the Christian era, reminds us of the laborious and fertile union, painstakingly realized between Christianity and paganism, between the Latin-Christian world and the Germanic world. After all, in this "unity", we find the cultural identity of these lands whose humus is Latin and Christian matured in the crucible produced with the impact with the different barbarian ethnic groups.

Church built over a Roman bridge.

To be seen. A beautiful Roman church.