History

This temple made it through the Middle Ages without being damaged. In the 14th century it was remembered as “Ecclesia S. Salvatoris” under the jurisdiction of the church of Sant’Angelo in Capite. On occasion of pastoral visits, between the 16th and the 18th centuries it was remembered as a rural church, dignified however by its great antiquity and its splendid marble ornaments. The classic style of the building has captured the attention of many scholars since the Renaissance. Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and Palladio left us their drawings, which are precious evidence to know the original aspect of the monument that at the time still preserved all its parts. In the course of the 18th century, following a violent earthquake and consequent spoliation, the building underwent manumission and the partial loss of its lateral porticos. The intervention of local scholars and the disposition decreed in 1767 by Cardinal Rezzonico to preserve it, allowed however the partial recovery of the stolen marble materials. During the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries the temple became the destination of travelers and artists, among them the poet Byron. The first reconnaissance of the place, proposals for its restoration and its acquisition by the State started in 1894. The first scientific mapping, reconnaissance of the building and inventory of all the worked pieces collected in the area around Spoleto, which allowed the re-composition of the lateral passage, date back to the years 1900-1910. In 1927, the poet Giosuè Carducci [4]—who wrote about the "Sources of the Clitumnus" and the Tempietto in his poem “The Barbarian Odes”—intervened with the local authorities to take care of the vegetation around the monument, and convinced them to plant the noble cypress, today so widespread.