Not far from Piegaro, inside the Castello di Cibottola stands the parish church erected in honour of San Fortunato.
Next to the church, the Hospital of Cibottola, also called ‘di San Fortunato’, was built around 1300 due to its proximity to the church of the same name.
The small church is very simple on the outside, but attractive, with a portal, a mullioned window and a rose window. The first written records attesting its presence date back to 1434, when it was listed at the Land Registry, but its construction is presumed to date back to before the year 1000.
Internally the church has a single nave, a barrel vault and groin vaults surmount the presbytery, while three pointed arches support the roof; the latter is achieved via the technique of exposed beams. In the high altar, dedicated to the Beata Vergine delle Grazie, you can admire the painting of the Madonna con il Bambino, created in 1944 by the Ligurian painter Giovanni Tronfi; a typically Umbrian landscape forms the background to the Madonna, showing in the distance on the left side the Castle of Cibottola and on the right the Franciscan Convent of San Bartolomeo.
This canvas is embellished with 15 square panels that frame it, with frescoes depicting the 15 Mysteries of the Rosary. The bays are frescoed with images of various saints and the church was once also adorned with several other paintings, also featuring a number of saints and the Madonna. There is also an ancient travertine font, and the baptismal font made of sandstone.
The Church San Fortunato in Piegaro has undergone several renovations over the centuries, with the most recent carried out in 1946, but its structure has not undergone any significant changes.
Currently the paintings are no longer present inside the church and it is only opened on the occasion of the Ascension or on special occasions agreed with the parish priest of Pietrafitta.