The church stands on a diverticulum or little side-road of the ancient Roman road from Trevi to Foligno: the one highest up the mountain, just a few yards from the paved modern road. Its typical Romanesque architecture shows clearly that it is a rebuilding of a church at least three centuries older, since the dedication to St. Donatus is evidence of its Lombard foundation.
Trevi, Italy. Matigge, Church of S. Donato from the southwest.
A number of big limestone blocks, that found their reuse most specially in the southern wall of the church, certainly come from some large Roman monument and bear witness to the antiquity of the road.
It was precisely these big blocks of Roman stone that piqued the curiosity of a Chicago traveler hunting down vestiges of classical antiquity: Bill Thayer covers the building in the two pages of his site devoted to
S.Donato
Translated by Bill Thayer ©2010
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