The building that most characterizes the village of Tuoro, its silhouette, is the church of St. Mary Magdalene, patron saint of the town, which is celebrated by the people of Tuoro on July 22.

A parish church of the Tuoro community since the 15th century, the present building is actually the result of the reconstruction in the second half of the 19th century of the previous, smaller church.

The church, which imitates in style the nearby Mongiovino Sanctuary, is characterized by a three-nave plan: the two side aisles have vaulted roofs, while the central one features a 20-meter-high dome resting on four pillars.

Construction work encompassed the period 1865-1898, with numerous interruptions due to shortages of funds and skilled workers. The main architect was parish priest Don Ottavio Cerboni, who diligently pushed the population, local authorities and Bishop Pecci, future Pope Leo XIII, to complete the work.

Inside there are at the apse three stained glass windows and a magnificent tempera painting by futurist painter GERARDO DOTTORI, representing the Conversion of Magdalene (1949).

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SAINT MARY MAGDALENE

The village of Tuoro has not always been located in the position in which it currently stands. It was originally a settlement located higher up, toward Mount Castelluccio, around the parish church of Santa Agata, and was called Tuori.

However, this settlement suffered great devastation in the 14th century brought first by the men of the adventurer Piersaccone Tarlati, known as the Wild Boar of the Apennines, and later by the exiles of Perugia. Added to this, changes in the local road system and economic interests -converging towards the valley-convinced the population to build the new village around the small church of Santa Maria Maddalena, located 2 km south of Santa Agata.

In the 15th century the church of Santa Maria Maddalena then became a parish church, at the expense of Santa Agata. Historical documents testify mainly to the assiduous care of souls, as well as prudent economic management.

In 1491, St. Mary Magdalene obtained the baptismal font with an annual census of two pairs of capons to be paid to the bishop’s refectory. Historical documents related to the new church indicate a good deal of activity gravitating around the village’s new religious center.

In 1578 there was a pastoral visitation by Bishop Bossi, and in 1593 Bishop Gomitoli posed twenty questions to the parish priests in the area about the status of each parish. The answers about the church in Tuoro were encouraging: Santa Maria Maddalena was found to be well cared for and it was pievania (the territory over which the priest exercised his ministry).

The first restorations are dated 1803, but in 1866 the heads of families went to Bishop Pecci, the future Pope Leo XIII, presenting a motion following the need to rebuild the church. The bishop approved and made suggestions about the work, which were followed, and the work was entrusted to the architect Giovanni Santini and upon his death in 1868 to Gioacchino Brunori, who faithfully followed his predecessor’s plans.

In 1888 the church could be said to be completed, and three altars composed by Cesare Corsi arrived from Florence. In 1949 the apse of the church of Santa Maria Maddalena was decorated by the Perugian futurist master GERARDO DOTTORI. The scene immortalizes the Conversion of Magdalene while Christ instructs seated at the table of the Pharisee and behind them dominates Lake Trasimeno.

In more recent years, the rose window on the façade and the three stained glass windows in the apse, depicting the Trilogy of Light, were completed: the style of the latter picks up the colours, stroke and lake theme from the painting by Dottori above. Various statues, paintings and religious works are scattered along the walls of the church.

THE PAINTING BY GERARDO DOTTORI

In 1948/49, the futurist painter Gerardo Dottori was commissioned to paint the apsidal basin of the Church of St Mary Magdalene. The work was executed with the assistance of Adelmo Mirabelli and is a tempera painting covering approximately 84 square metres depicting the conversion of St. Mary Magdalene as recounted in the Gospel of Luke. The Saint is drying Jesus’ feet, wet from his tears of repentance, with her own hair, while Christ preaches to those present, who are more or less interested in his words. In the background is Lake Trasimeno and its islands, as well as the surrounding hills.

Dottori’s wall painting is a tempera applied with the pointillisme technique, namely through the execution of small dots of colour juxtaposed with each other. In the treatment of the background (hills and lake) and of the lines, in the colours and their gradation one can see the influence of futurism. The scene denotes Dottori’s characteristic panoramic vedutism, as the part depicted in the foreground – the banquet, the terrace on which it takes place and the people taking part – is characterised by warm, vivid colours, while the background slides from the red of the rocks, to the green of the plants, to the increasingly blurred blue of the sky and lake. Lake Trasimeno was, at the time, one of the author’s favourite subjects.

The scene depicts a banquet being held at the home of Simon the Pharisee. The table set with some furnishings is placed on a terrace overlooking a lake landscape at sunset. The lake can be identified with Lake Trasimeno. On the left is a small table on which food and drink has been placed, watched with attention by a dog, crouched just below. Saint Mary Magdalene is kneeling on the floor with an afflicted air and is wiping Jesus’ feet with her own hair, wet from the tears of repentance she is shedding for her sins. Jesus with a serene spirit is announcing the Glad Tidings to those present. Those present, according to their degree of attention to the Master’s words, are divided into three groups: those who silently listen to Christ’s words (the young couple on the right and the woman on the left, albeit surrounded by men who distract her); Simon, the master of the house, who is interested, but perhaps not persuaded, and tries to interact with Jesus; those who are inattentive and do not listen to Christ’s words, represented mainly by the pair of men with old, weathered faces on the far left, who are bent over and withdrawn into themselves.