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Church of Saint Lucia

Typology: Rural chapel
Chronology: XVII century (1629-31)
The Church of Saint Lucia, with its homonymous fountain of therapeutic waters, it is built in 1629-31 by De Rubeis. The lintel and the left jamb have reliefs and inscriptions. The shovel altar was moved to the Franciscan monastery of Monteleone following an attempted theft
The Church of Saint Lucia (festivity on December 13th) is close to the ironworks, at an ancient crossroad. Just upstream there is the fountain with its therapeutic properties of water. Built in 1629-1631 by the family De Rubeis or De Rossi of Monteleone, it is already in ruins during Lascaris bishop's visit (1712). The building has lintel relief of a cross on three hills, containing the initials of the co-founder ( "D. D. R." of De Domenicus Rubeis), and below "1631". On the left jamb, perhaps reused, a round emblem with cross and a solar symbol are carved.  In the upper part of the prospectus there was the emblem of the clients (a horse and a head of a dark man), disappeared in a recent theft. The altarpiece of the seventeenth century, with Saint Lucia, Apollonia and Cristina, is in the Franciscan Convent of Monteleone di Spoleto following an attempted of robbery. On February 18th, 1799 in Saint Lucia Church some French soldiers encamp demanding provisions and they soot to three young inhabitants.

At the end of Ruscio plain, next to the ironworks throat, at the ancient road for Cascia, below the road level of the provincial road, there is the Church of Saint Lucia, begun in 1629 at the behest of Andrea De Rossi (or De Rubeis) and completed in 1631 by Vicar Forane D. Domenico De Rubeis (or De Rossi), on a building of their property in an ancient road junction, cut from the modern road system. Nearby, just upstream, it is located the homonymous fountain with water considered therapeutic. During the visit of Lascaris Bishop in 1712, the church is briefly described as it follows "at the foot of Monteleone towards the plain at the origin of Tissino. There is a canvas with the image of the holder. It was built on a land donated by Domenico Rossi. It is now ruined and open." Of modest size, it has a simple facade plastered with a small window, a small upper oculus and a belfry. The stone entrance is formed by stone elements, such as a gable shaped lintel, on which is centrally carved a Latin cross with arms splayed out over three mountains, where the initials of the co-founder are engraved “D. D. R.” (Domenicus De Rubeis); below there is the consecration date (1631). On the left jamb, perhaps reused, a round emblem with cross and a solar symbol are carved, also readable as a cross monogram with the initials of Christ ( "I" of Jesus and the form "X" as the aspirated consonant "ch" of Christus). At the top of the facade, where there is now a visible cavity, was walled up until a few years ago, the stone coat of arms of De Rubeis family of Monteleone, depicting a horse and a dark man head divided by a band, disappeared in a recent robbery. The small room inside has a modern brick floor and a simple altar, from which a painting in oil of seventeenth-century was placed, depicting the Saints Lucia, Apollonia and Cristina. The altarpiece is in the Convent of St. Francis of Monteleone after a botched attempt of removal, which damaged the pictorial support. In this place, at the foot of the country and of one of the most important city entrance, on the night of February 18th, 1799 a squad of French troops from Norcia and directed to Arrone encamp, requiring provisions. They shoot three young inhabitants, guilty of resisting them and of advising the population of their arrival with gunfire. Today the country church does not hold particular historical memories and is open for worship only during the religious holiday of the Saint Lucia, which is on December 13th.