Description

The origins of the leper colony, parts of which can still be seen in the town of San Lazzaro al Valloncello, date back according to tradition to the 24th September 1218, the date on which a certain Razzardo di Roccapazza gave away a large area of land, partly cultivated and partly pasture for a church and a hospital to be built for the lepers and reserving the right to pasture his own cattle. This donation and the decision of the farmers of Roccapazza to contribute to the building of the hospital were probably influenced by Franciscan ideology.

Local tradition, on the other hand, says that St. Francis himself was the founder of the leper colony. Some information about the hospital can be found in a parchment from the town Archives of Norcia of 1342. The patients were allowed to live with their families; the only limit imposed on the lepers was that they were unable to leave the colony.

An ancient privilege gave the superiors of the hospital the authority to take in sick people from the diocese of Spoleto, Camerino and Ascoli, even though members of the family were opposed to it. This privilege was reconfirmed by Eugenio IV in 1432.

In 1449 the hospital was given to the Municipality of Norcia. As it was in financial difficulties, it was granted (in 1452) the faculty of begging throughout the entire ecclesiastical state. People who were good at this job were sent from Cerreto to the episcopates and throughout the provinces. The area of collection was huge: they went as far as Milan and Venice. In 1490 Innocenzo VIII decreed that the Leper Colony be closed as cases of leprosy were disappearing. The position of the leper colony suggests that it was a naturally isolated spot that had the advantage of the sulphurous waters of Bagni di Triponzo.

In 1218 the Church of San Lazzaro al Valloncello and the leper hospital were given to the monks of Sant’Eutizio; in the 14th century to the monks of the minor orders; in 1572 to the order of the Saints Maurizio and Lazzaro who gave it as a reward to its own knights.

Today the complex has been mostly altered but the two original naves, covered by ribbed vaults with the ribs converging on a central cylindrical pillar, can still be seen. Only a small part is still used as a church; at the main altar there is a 17th century canvas of the Madonna with Child and Saints.