Church of Santa Maria della Carità, knwn as della Scopa

People call it the Church of the Broom from the name of Confraternity of Disciplinated or Blown by the Broom who directed the hospital situated beside the church. It goes back to the fourteenth century. During the first half of 1500 it underwent profond changes under the hands of Cola dell'Amatrice and Conte Conti from Ascoli. The façade, claimed to be one of the best works of Cola, has four elegant, unbroken Corinthian pilasters and trabeations. The three portals are by Antonio Giosafatti (.... - 1610). The interior with a single nave is redundant for the very rich ornaments, flying figures and Baroque putti of the seventeenth century. On the main altar there is the picture of Natività by Girolamo Buratti. The church las had amongst its paintings L'Annunciazione by Guido Reni, presently displayed in the Municipal Art Gallery. The affrescoes on the vaulting cell and the internal side of façade are by Buratti, whilst the figures of Apostoli on the cornice are by Serba. The canvas above the first altar that portrays Sant'Emidio consacrato vescovo da Papa Marcello is by Venitian Pier Gaya, who also painted the canvases San Carlo Borromeo and Santa Rita, the Crocefissione di Gesù con San Giovanni e la Vergine and another Crocefissione con la Madonna e i Santi. Attached to the church there once was the Oratory of the Misericordia, whose members had the duty of assisting spiritually the prisonners of the city condemned to death. As evidence of this custom remains an affresco, now covered in Municipal Art Gallery, showing La Madonna della Misericordia tra Sant'Emidio e San Giuliano. On the painting there are various graffiti with imprecations and exclamations of the condemned.

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