Temple of Minerva

The Temple of Minerva was built in the second half of the 1st century BC.

The façade is surprisingly well preserved in its original state; the six fluted columns have fine Corinthian capitals and rest on plinths which, due to lack of space, are placed on the stairs leading into the pronaos.

In the Middle Ages the ancient temple was transformed into a Christian church. In 1212 the abbot of San Benedetto al Subasio ceded the “casalino” of San Donato, i.e. the cella of the temple, to the consuls of the Commune, reserving the use of the rooms built between the columns. The cella first became the residence of the town magistrates, then the seat of the Commune and, lastly, a jail. In 1228 the Commune acquired a number of houses in front of the temple to enlarge the square. On the same occasion, the vestibule between the columns was liberated and became the site of the arengo, or assembly area. Not until in 1456 did the building return to its original religious function. In 1539 the rectangular cella was demolished to build the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, further renovated in the Baroque style in the 17th century.

For Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, this was the first intact monument of antiquity that he had seen during his trip to Italy in 1786, and he highly praised it. Today it bears witness to the Roman period and symbolizes the values of UNESCO.