Chiesa della Madonna del Parto

Useful Information

photography — Chiesa della Madonna del Parto/Mitreo di Sutri, Lazio, Italy. Public Domain.

Location:	Piazza Sacello, 39, 01015 Sutri VT. Parco Naturale Regionale Sutri, SS2, Via Cassia, south of Sutri. From the motorwas circle around Rome at the northernmost point follow SS2, right before Sutri on the left side. (42.2397454, 12.2272175)
Open:	Amphitheatre: All year Tue-Fri 10-19. Mithraeum: All year Tue-Fri 10:20-14:40, Sat, Sun, Hol 10:20-16:20. Tours every 20 minutes. All year Sat, Sun, Hol 16:40 guided tour with special lighting. [2024]
Fee:	Adults EUR 8, Adults (18-25) EUR 6, Children free, Locals free, Disable free. Groups (20+): Adults EUR 6. [2024]
Classification:	Cave Church Mithras Grotto
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:
Guided tours:	D=20 min, Max=10.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:	Alessandro Pergoli Campanelli (2020): Comune di Sutri - Santa Maria del Parto (o la Madonna del Parto) - cosiddetto Mitreo di Sutri - relazione storica academia.edu
Address:	Chiesa della Madonna del Parto, Piazza Sacello, 39, 01015 Sutri VT, Tel: +39-0761-609380. E-mail: Parco Naturale Regionale dell'Antichissima Città di Sutri, Piazza Del Comune, 32 - 01015 Sutri (VT), Tel: +39-0761-634660. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1988	Parco urbano dell'antichissima Città di Sutri established.

Description

The Chiesa della Madonna del Parto (Church of Our Lady of Childbirth) is a cave church which was dug into soft tufa during the 13th and 14th century. But it is also called the Mitreo di Sutri (Mithras Grotto of Sutri) which seems rather strange at the first glimpse. The explanation is simple though: archaeologists found numerous remains which are typical for the underground place of worship of the god Mithras. The estimated age is 1st and 2nd century. Later the Roman empire became Christian, and the old temples were abandoned. In this cave it was abandoned for a thousand years, then the place was converted into a christian cave. They changed some details, like doors and windows, and they added the apsis, but the rest is almost original the much older Mithraeum. The floor still contains the Mithraic baptismal font where believers were initiated into the Mysteries of Worship with a water baptism. Baptism was not invented by Christianity, actually. The Mithraic Taurobolium was removed in the 4th century and was reused to build a farmhouse on the Via Cassia, in the hamlet of La Botte. If you go there, it is clearly visible on the wall of building a few metres from the road. It shows the god Mithras wearing a Phrygian cap, in the act of killing the bull (tauroctonia) while a scorpion attacks the bull's testicles.

The door is rectangular and today has two wooden doors, and a glass window over the doors. The tufa wall was obviously quarried to form a sort of flat facade, which contains numerous holes which were needed for wooden beam, some sort of wooden building in from which is now completely gone. There is also a triangular line, which is from a roof above the door. After entering through the door, a square vestibule is reached, where frescoes depict the Madonna and Saints, St Christopher, and events linked to the life of St Michael of Gargano. Then the main room follows, rectangular with three naves, divided by ten pillars on each side. The pillars have a sort of basement which forms a sort of steps on both sides of the main nave. The central nave has a barrel-vaulted ceiling. The two side naves are only about 1 metre wide and have flat ceilings. The apsis on the far end is also rectangular and shows the remains of frescoes depicting the Nativity, which explains the name of the church.

The church is part of the Parco urbano dell'antichissima Città di Sutri (Urban Park of the Ancient City of Sutri) which was established in 1988. For unknown reasons, it is also called Parco Naturale Regionale Sutri (Sutri Regional Nature Park). However, the small park covers a dozen archaeological and historic sites and is of great cultural importance, and as far as we understand nature is also protected. It includes the cave church/Mithraeum and the block of tufa where the church is located, which forms a sort of plateau with vertical cliffs on all sides and is called colle Savorelli (Savorelli hill). On top of theis plateau is from west to east the Castello di Carlo Magno (Charlemagne Castle), the church Madonna del Monte and the Headquarters of the Regional Park. There are gardens, fountains, the Bosco Sacro (Holy Forest), monuments and picnic tables. North of the plateau at the SS2 is the church Santa Maria del Tempio, and on the eastern side is the Anfiteatro romano (Roman Amphitheatre), which was dug into the tufa. And finally, the park has a sort of leg to the southeast along SS2. Here it includes another subterranea called Necropoli Etrusca (Etruscan Necropolis). Numerous openings are obviously empty garves form the pre-Roman era, when this area was inhabited by Etruscans. The main sites of the park require an entrance fee, the car park, ticket office and entrance is located at SS2 close to the amphitheatre. It is well signposted and hard to miss. The necropolis is located right at the road and freely accessible.

The tufa or tuff is of volcanic origin. During an eruption of the Sabatino volcano, huge amounts of lava were thrown into the air and fell down as small fragments. They were not liquid when they reached the ground, but still hot, and so they formed a strange porous rock with small irregular grains which enclosed small bubbles. The grains were glued together by the residual heat, but did not merge into solid rock. Such tufa is generally porous, lighter than normal stone, softer, less weather-resistant and easier to work with.