The Architecture of the Tempietto
The Tempietto Longobardo (Lombard Temple, also known as Oratory of Santa Maria in Valle) has a striking structure, simple yet harmonious. From the outside, you can see two main sections: the hall, tall and square; and the presbytery, lower and rectangular. The arches marking the walls give the building a regular pattern and clearly define its shape.
However, it is on entering that one discovers the true magic of the Tempietto. The interior space, although not very large, appears surprisingly airy. The hall rises upwards thanks to the arched niches on the walls and the cross vault, reminiscent of the grand Christian architectures with a central dome. The presbytery, divided into three small aisles, opens onto the hall through a splendid three-light window, with three brick arches supported by elegant marble columns.
Originally, entry was through a large portal on the western side, framed by a great arch. Today, instead, access is via a side door on the south side, through a medieval space that probably served as a sacristy.
From this entrance, the route takes directly into the presbytery, with the ancient altar positioned in front of the back wall with an arched niche at its centre.
The layout with three small aisles reflects the Christian tradition, but with a truly distinctive feature: the small barrel vaults rest on an alternating system of columns and pillars that support Roman‑era corbels and architraves, decorated with plant motifs and reused with a clear intention of suggesting an ancient style.
The screen that separates the hall from the presbytery also has Roman and Byzantine elements in Greek marble, taken from older buildings. The bases and capitals, however, are early medieval and were created specifically for the Tempietto. They resemble those in the baptismal font of Patriarch Callistus (mid-8th century), now in the Christian Museum.
Above the screen’s pillars are early medieval capitals that once supported the iconostasis architrave, likely the original one, which in the medieval period held wooden statues of Saint John, the Madonna, and a cross.
Scholars believe that the current position of the screen is not the original one: it must have stood slightly further east, as suggested by some holes still visible in the slabs at the base of the columns and along the perimeter walls.
