The  romanic church of S.Nicholas from Tolentino (century XIII) preserves in its  interior some  frescos of high value: a  cycle of fresco  from the  riminian school of  Giotto: represents  the life of saint Nicholas with a  style and a shape similar to the Giotto's fresco of S.Francesco from Assisi. From the cappellone  it is  nice to go accross the ancient doorway which leads to the cloister where  walking  you find some frescos.

The cycle of frescos of the Chapel of Saint Nicholas from Tolentino in Tolentino, where is told the life of Saint Nicholas from Tolentino show us the presence of a  Giottesque master giottesco of big technical and  figurative abilities, like nobody  else in this zone of Marche: the so-called Master of  Tolentino (or Master of the Chapel of  Saint Nicholas).

This unknown painter of '300 has created quarrels between the histroricals of the art during the course of last century: for some of them  he is a painter of  excellent calibre, for the others a simple  disciple of the  riminian  giottesque school.

It is difficult to place  his work in the time, it is sure that there is the fact that  the date of death of Saint Nicholas (1305) is a temporal indication quite  sure, but surely the date of the biginnig of this work has to be moved more forward on the  decades, perhaps to after the 1325 when it beginns the process of canonization of Nicholas from Tolentino under Pope Giovanni XXII, because the frescos  which paint the saint already with the aurea.

If really the Master of Tolentino would be a riminian giottesque, it would be surely the bigger   painter  of this  questa school, because of the hugh technical and pictorial depth of the other its  representatives.

Very recently this cycle of frescos  has been attribuited to Pietro da Rimini, because of a certain likeness with his frescos in the Abbey of Pomposa and these of Saint  Chiara in Ravenna, even if the technical degree of  representation of these last is remarkably inferior to the frescos of  Tolentino.

The Master of  Tolentino denotes a certain  roughness far from riminians, probably nearest to the giottesques of Florence  and also to the  giottesque of the school of  Bologna, what is sure it isthe fact that  he has visitated and maybe worked in  Assisi, where he has assimilated the lection of Giotto but also this of   Jacopo Torriti from Rome, and there is a certain closeness to the colouristic search of Pietro Cavallini, above all for the use of brigt colours and the partition bands between the different frescos, painted by the"cosmatesca" such as in use the roman gotics of the '200-300.

You find also the roughness of the Master  d'Isacco in Assisi, who some people believe that he was  a very young  Giotto to the search of his own style not more  obscured from the fame of his master Cimabue, but  in the  frescos of  Tolentino there are also some faces which make to think  Simone Martini of the frescos of Assisi of Saint  Martino.

Usefull informations:

The " Basilica " is open  all  days from 7 to 12  and from 15 to  19.30

For  conducted tour or special  fuctions to call: tel. 0733-976311

http://www.sannicoladatolentino.it/