CHURCH OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL
XII sec.
Arriving in Pozzuolo you are immediately attracted by the imposing bulk of the Campanile, which together with the Church is the centre point of the county. This Romanesque Church also has a baptismal font was dedicated to St. Peter, as shown by documents of the XI - XII century, the Curtis de Puteolo cum Capella Sancti Petri was obliged to pay a sum to those in need.
In this church in the year 1247 he baptized a little girl who was given the name of Margaret, who later became the Holy Saint of Cortona.
In 1383, the magistrates of Perugia welcomed the request of the Universities of the Pozzuolo people and ordered the construction of a castle that could contain 100 houses, with walls 20 feet above ground level, with a parapet and reinforced with brick with a 25mt tower with a bell and drawbridge. The work was completed in 1388.
But of all this there is no trace, apart from the corner of the baptismal font. The present church stands on the ancient remains and was reopened for worship in 1785.
By shepherding this church the parish priest Carlo Maria Grilli, whose memory is blessed, led his people to rebuild the church that was without form. In spite of the death of this great pastor the year 1763 it was given to the factory principle, under the guidance of Don Domenico Tommasi, Rector Pievano, which with him & four other priests was completed in 1784 and opened to the faithful
The project design was the architect Tiroli Lugano (CH),who was very active in the Diocese of Città della Pieve for work carried out by him to the Monastery of the Poor Clares and in Mongiovino, the Campanile of the Sanctuary.
At the end of 1800 the church was enlarged with the addition of the side chapels. The current tower was erected in 1919 to replace the old one which was isolated from the church. Near the entrance of the tower a plaque commemorates the return of the body of Santa Margherita on the 7th centenary of her conversion (24/09/1972).
The Church has preserved the Baptismal Font, where tradition has it that it was named Santa Margherita. Recently in 1997 the Font was decorated with a beautiful mosaic at the hands of Father Ugolino of Belluno, representing the Baptism of Jesus in the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil, respectively indicated by an owl and a swarm of birds, while the foot flows the Jordan River that feeds and gives life to flowers and fish.
This week the Font is going to be arranged with a small tub of Deruta ceramics, work of Carlo Gilletti, topped by a small statue of St. Margaret raising a creature to Heaven. The picture is the same that is visible on Cortona Hospital, the Fratta, operates Cortona Artist Andrea Roggi.
After the baptismal font on the right is the Altar of St. Margaret, in the alcove that overlooks the plaster statue of the Saint. On the left in the niche is the image of Our Lady of Sorrows in wood and under the altar the image of Jesus. The central Altar is a recent addition with the metal base and walnut table. Behind the old high altar made of marble which was built in 1891 by the parish priest Don Pacifico Gori. In the apse there is a canvas with images of patron saints and the Virgin, author unknown. On the back wall, on the right, over a small stone font, there is the bust of a Della Robbia styled angel.
The left chapel, two confessionals and the altar, has a beautiful crucifix, and the Tabernacle, where on the evening of Easter Holy Thursday, is placed the Holy Sepulchre for the Adoration.
The right chapel preserves the right of the standard of the parish, artefacts that date back to 1960, and two paintings: St. Peter’s Communion, by Anton Maria Garbi (1787), and the other Mary, but of the Rosary with Divine Child in her arms and the Saints Macarius Anchorite and Antonio Abate by Vincenzo Mariotti.