Sant'Andrea Apostolo, Viterbo

Flank and facade with portico

'Sant'Andrea Apostolo is a Romanesque-style, Roman Catholic church located on the Piazza of the same name in the sector of Pianoscarano (or Piano Scarano) of Viterbo, region of Lazio, Italy.

History and description

Interior nave facing apse

Crypt with 13th-century columns

Prior to the 12th-century, the land of this sector had once been uninhabited, likely orchards belonging to Benedictine monks established in Viterbo by the Abbey of Farfa. In 1148, the land was donated to the town of Viterbo. The church of Sant'Andrea replaced a rustic pieve present here since the 9th century. The sector of Pianoscarano was not urbanized until 1187. The church is first mentioned in 1236. The building has an irregular layout and suggests construction and enlargement over the centuries. By the 14th-century, the Ortolani’s (Greengrocers) Guild owned the Chapel of San Nicola. In the 15th-century, the Speziali's (Traders) Guild had built the chapel of Saints Lawrence and Steven.

In 1902, a restoration, patronized by Bishop Grasselli and led by the architect Filippo Pincellotti, refurbished both the church and the crypt, restoring the architectural elements to their respective Romanesque and Gothic roots.