Oratorio dei Santi Lorenzo e Marco Dei Battuti

The Oratory of Saints Lorenzo and Marco was built, perhaps as early as the beginning of the fourteenth century, by the Brotherhood of the Flagellants of Serravalle, named so for their practices of penance during public processions. They would indeed strike themselves with a bundle of knotted cords (discipline or scourge), from which their emblem and name derive. The brotherhood dedicated itself to assisting the poor, pilgrims, and foreigners. The interior is almost entirely frescoed by artists who worked in the 1400s. On the main altar, one can see a splendid Crucifixion, and the walls are decorated with the stories of St. Lawrence and St. Mark. The vaults feature the Evangelists with their symbols (Saint Matthew and the Angel, Saint Luke and the Ox, Saint Mark with the Lion, Saint John and the Eagle). Noteworthy are the pillars where we find Saint Augusta, the patron saint of Serravalle, and Saint Agatha. In 1797, the Oratory suffered the occupation of Napoleonic troops, becoming a field kitchen for the soldiers of the French Revolution. From 1986 to 1996, the Oratory underwent the last interventions for preservation.