Church of S.S. Trinity and Maria Assunta

The Church of the Holy Trinity was built at the expense of Duke Luigi Strozzi between 1675 and 1682 and donated to the population in exchange for the rights to the old Church of S. Maria (also called del Transito), dated 1313 and located in the old village next to the Baronial Palace. It was in fact the Duke’s intention to lighten the area surrounding the palace and propose a new urban development of the village beyond the main door, where the parish church still stands.

The recently restored building still represents one of the most important monuments in the country today. Its construction cost more than twelve thousand scudi and was built thanks to the contribution of construction material recovered from the nearby castle of Colle Nero now uninhabited. The church is under the protection of the Superintendence of Environmental and Architectural Heritage of Lazio. Following is the description of the church by the Superintendence of Galleries and Works of Art (1930):

“The façade was built with exposed brick, on two floors: on the lower floor there is the entrance portal with jambs and architrave crowned by a curvilinear tympanum, partly in travertine, partly in lime. An arched window opens on the upper floor. The building is crowned by a triangular pediment. The interior has a single nave with three chapels on each side, opening with an arch in the center. It ends with a semicircular apse, and is covered with a cross vault. The walls are plastered and the altars in masonry ”.

In 1939 the old high altar was replaced by the marble one built on a project by engineer Filippo Sneider to replace the old one in masonry. Right on the altar it is possible to admire the painting commissioned by Luigi Strozzi to Girolamo Troppa to celebrate the inauguration of the parish church.

In the painting, signed Hieronimus Troppa faciebat – 1682, the coronation of the B.V. Maria Assunta in heaven and, below, the images of saints Jerome and Anthony. The work of the Sabine artist is also of great help in the reconstruction of the architectural evolution of the town: at the foot of the Virgin is in fact preserved the only image of Forano still existing as it must have been at the end of the 17th century.