What will happen to the oratory of the Beati Becchetti of Fabriano?

Fabriano – Almost a year and a half have passed since the start of the works for the construction of temporary works for safe access to the oratory of the Beati Becchetti. The structure dating back to the ‘300, for all the Holy Sepulcher of Fabriano, the small Jerusalem of the hinterland, is still closed to the public. It stands next to the church of Sant ‘Agostino, where there is the cloister which in the past was crossed to reach the old mortuary. We are located inside the Profili hospital space, in the oldest part. A place to be recovered, with a rectangular plan, with an internal roof resting directly on the perimeter walls, full of devotion. For some time the residents have been asking the Asur, owner of the property, and the Municipality, to do their utmost to make this architectural jewel open to visitors. After years of petitions and protests last year, something seemed to have moved. With the works, a protected path has been created to be able to access safely. One way to have an exclusive entrance, at least for the insiders. Time, however, passes and the building is still closed. Other works will be needed to make it usable without forgetting a restoration of the fresco and a structural intervention on the cloister, damaged by the 2016 earthquake. Pinacoteca, like the wooden works. That of the oratory is a story that has been going on for many centuries that has the right to see the light again, in a city cultural path that enhances, as it should be, its riches. The oratory of the Beati Becchetti, in fact, was built at the behest of the two Augustinian friars on their return from the Holy Land.

For centuries it has been a destination for pilgrims. Severely damaged by the earthquake of 1768, it was restored, enlarged and tampered with in the ancient structure. Originally, in fact, it had to develop over a larger space. In the early 1900s it was closed to the public. Only in 1977 was it temporarily reopened to save the wooden statues found amassed inside from decay and then restored and preserved inside the Pinacoteca. Inside there are five altars: the first, with twelve steps, is dedicated to the Crucifix and is called Monte Calvario and rises 2 meters and 20 from the ground floor. Dominating the scene today is the fresco of the Tree of Life, a late Gothic work by Lorenzo Salimbeni, in poor condition due to the high humidity present and in need of intervention. The goal is to reopen this place that many are fond of, and that the youngest have never seen. In recent years, the FAI has also collected 6 thousand signatures, but the situation does not seem so easy to secure and enhance it. However, it could allow the tourist to travel not only in the world of Fabriano paper, but also in faith and spirituality given the presence of churches considered treasures of art that could give life to new cultural paths.

Marco Antonini