SACRED ART. -
Manifestations of art in B. are not found before the Romanesque period. To that era belong precisely the church of St. Sylvester (1195) and that of St. Michael the Archangel, works by a certain Binello, fairly well preserved in their essential architectural lines and rich, especially the second, in sculptural decoration on the facade.
Romanesque-Gothic is the church of St. Mary in Laurenza, mentioned as early as 1293; slightly later is the church of St. Francis, which preserves its original features almost exclusively in the facade.
To the early 14th century, if not to the end of the 13th, belongs the Palazzo dei Consoli, which has at its base a loggia with pointed arches and cross vaults.
Later, but likewise of the 14th century, is the church of St. Dominic, which in the apse area has frescoes and wooden sculptures from the end of the 13th century; from the same period is the church of St. Augustine. A modest construction of the end of the 15th century is the church of the Annunziata, where there is a glazed terracotta altar depicting the Annunciation, a Robbiana work of the 16th century. In 1640 the church of St. Margaret was rebuilt, notable only for the Martyrdom of the Saint, a painting by Camassei.
From the 17th century is the church of the Misericordia, where a 16th-century wooden statue of the Risen Christ is preserved. The church of St. Philip was built and decorated in the 18th century; and the frescoes are attributed to the painter G. B. Michelini of Foligno.
BIBL.: sources