The Chiesetta di Santa Maria della Vittorina is situated outside the city walls, nestled in a nature park built in the early 1990s.
The original building was probably built in the 9th century on the occasion of one of the city’s victories against the Saracens but its fame was linked to the history of Saint Francis. According to tradition, related in chapter 21 of the Fioretti (‘Little Flowers of Francis of Assisi’, a collection of popular legends about the life of St. Francis of Assisi and his early companions), it was here, in around 1220, that St. Francis met and tamed the wolf that threatened the inhabitants of the city.
In 1213 the small church was assigned to Francis of Assisi by the Bishop of Gubbio Beato Villano and was the first settlement of the Franciscan friars, who remained there for several decades, until 1241. Having moved to the new convent of San Francesco, the friars left the church to the Clarisse nuns, who in turn left the building in emphyteusis to the Compagnia di S. Maria della Vittorina in 1538. The building underwent several renovations over the years, including under the local administration and the supervisory authorities. It was finally returned to the Franciscan Order in 1948 and in 1957 it was officially reopened to the public.
The church is very simple in shape on the outside and is made of local limestone with some terracotta inserts. Access is via a single entrance portal in grey sandstone, surmounted by a small window. On the right side, there is a smaller second entrance and a window, now walled up, on which two slabs appear: the first presents the symbol of the Tau with the inscription ‘Pax et Bonum 1226/1926’, while the second bears a simple inscription that reads ‘Qui Francesco placò la perniciosa Lupa’ (Here Francis appeased the pernicious Wolf). In memory of the miraculous event, two bronze monuments were erected not far from the church: a bas-relief made in 1973 by the Bolognese sculptor Farpi Vignoli and a statue created in 2002 by the sculptor Francesco Scalici.
Inside, the church has a single nave with a humpback vault completely decorated with 16th century frescoes. In the centre is the Holy Father with two little angels holding up the globe, surrounded by thirty-four extraordinarily beautiful decorative panels by the painter and native of Gubbio, Benedetto Nucci. Below the vault, the walls are decorated with Marian Scenes created by another local painter, Giovanni Maria Baldassini.
Only the apse and the small single-lancet window adorned with two rosettes remain of the original 13th-century structure.
Immediately to the right of the entrance there is a chapel whose walls are decorated with frescoes illustrating the eight stories of St. Francis, adding to the overall artistic splendour of the church.
Even today the church is so popular with visitors and devotees that a Nativity scene (Presepe delle Vittorina) has been on display since 1988, in the surrounding park, to celebrate the nativity and remember St Francis, its inventor.