The monastic complex of Santa Maria in Campis is located in the present suburbs of the city in what were once the outskirts of the ancient town of Fulginae. The oldest part of the building has been dated to the 5th century and is supposedly one of the oldest basilicas in Foligno. According to some sources, in ancient times the church was also known as S. Maria Maggiore (St Mary Major) as it was recognized as a mother church.
The monastery was built on the remains of a Roman necropolis, with tombs dating from the 1st century BC to 400 AD, on the branch of the Flaminian road that connected Narnia to Spoleto.
In 1373, the bishop of Foligno entrusted the monastery first to the Cistercian friars of the Body of Christ and then to the Benedictine monks of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, who occupied it from 1582 until modern times.
The interior shows signs of modern restructuring carried out between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries that changed, often extremely, its original shape. The most invasive restoration was that done in 1849 following the earthquake of 1832 and during which, without any consideration for the style or the proportions of the building, rebuilt the damaged central nave with different dimensions, and it was asymmetrical with respect to the two lateral ones.
In the nineteenth century, the second chapel on the left aisle was heavily damaged because of its use as a dwelling, whereas the fourth chapel was used as a sacristy with the consequent loss of all the frescoes that decorated it, which were unfortunately covered with plaster.
In 1950, thanks to works directed by Domenico Schenardi, the chapel of St. Marta was discovered, commissioned by the bishop of Foligno Paolo Trinci in 1330, and several frescoes attributed to Alunno.
On the left side of the church façade there is the coat of arms of Pope Boniface IX, surmounted by the papal keys and the papal tiara in commemoration of the Pope’s visit in 1392.
The church is now part of the Foligno Town Cemetery, but its external appearance does not do justice to the beautiful works it contains. Among the frescoes most noteworthy are those in the first chapel on the left aisle, known for Pietro di Cola delle Casse, who was the commissioner who financed it in the mid-1400s. In the center of the fresco, which constitutes a jewel in the panorama of Italian Medieval painting, is Christ engaged in calming the stormy waters of Lake Tiberias. The figure of the boat was an allegory to show that the Church was capable of maintaining its stability even in the face of difficulties.
Adjacent to the church is a square-shaped cloister whose sides consist of three round arches supported by brick columns on each side. Along the portico there is a cycle of frescoes dedicated to the life of the blessed Bernardo Tolomei painted by the Venetian artist Lino Dinetto in 1963.
The Blessed Bernardo, member of a noble Sienese family, decided to devote himself to a hermit’s life in 1313. In the solitude of Accona, he wore a white robe as a symbol of devotion to the Virgin and in 1319 founded the first nucleus of the Monastery of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, which the Church of St. Maria in Campis was called for more than four centuries.
The founding monk died there with eighty of his brother monks during the plague in 1348 after assisting the needy.