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Church of San Martino - Appecano (TR)

The town of Appecano was built around the Church of San Martino, which is its oldest and most prominent element, located along the halfway path that led to Acquapalombo and then to Cesi. The first mention of the church dates back to the 15th century, but in terms of type and materials it can be traced back to the 9th - 10th centuries.
During the pastoral visit of Bishop Fulvio Orsini, in 1563, the church is described as very small, with no flooring, with the parish priest not residing in the benefice.
In 1602, during the pastoral visit of Monsignor Visconti, it has only one altar, not consecrated.
Probably during the seventeenth century or after the earthquake of 1703 it was enlarged with the construction of a second nave, as Carlo Giacinto Lascaris, bishop of Spoleto, in the pastoral visit of 1712 describes it as mediocrely wide and with two naves, with three altars, one dedicated to San Martino, one to Sant'Apollinare and a third to the Madonna del Rosario.
The exterior now appears as it has been modified over the centuries, in particular after the earthquakes of 1703 and 1917. The simple facade has a round arched entrance, above which a bell tower rises, with two arches. superimposed, equipped with bells, is the result of the eighteenth-century reconstruction that the original was damaged by the earthquake of 1703. Some fragments of marble with Roman epigraphs reused in the masonry of the facade and on the second entrance arch should be noted.
The original Romanesque apse is no longer visible from the outside, on the right wall there is a portal, with a fifteenth-century appearance and a small window.
The interior now has two naves, on the right wall the pictorial decoration, probably from the late seventeenth century is in a poor state of conservation, you can hardly see the figures of an ox and a horse, part of a larger scene and the partial ones of St. Pietro and Sant'Antonio da Padova.
The altar dedicated to the Madonna del Rosario closes the left aisle, with the Virgin and Child portrayed and various saints underneath, all surrounded by the usual frame of small squares, of the apse decoration only a Madonna and Child on the cap remains legible , very repainted and fragmentary.