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Church of San Pancrazio in Nucerino - Montefiascone (VT)rnrnIt is located near Montefiascone, surrounded by olive groves and vineyards, overlooking the lake of Bolsena which opens up in front of it.rnThe oldest information relating to this small church dates back to the mid-ninth century, when Pope Leo IV appoints, in a privilege addressed to Virobono, bishop of Tuscania, the localities and assets pertaining to it. In the area of ​​Montefiascone there was the Pieve di San Pietro in Vico Pergulata with all its dependencies, including the ecclesiam S. Pancratii in Nocerino. The pre-Romanesque origin of the church is also attested by the fragments of the archivolt placed above the architrave of the portal and the remains of the frame of a single lancet window now walled up in the upper left half of the facade. Following the abandonment by the monks of the Pieve, in 1143 Rodolfo, bishop of Tuscania, assigned their assets to Benedetto, head of the church of Santa Lucia, also located in the valley of the lake, and to the canons of San Giovanni in Lateran. In this instrument the church of San Pancrazio is indicated as one of the Chapels of the Plebe di San Pietro.rnThese assets, including the church of San Pancrazio, will subsequently be assigned to the Chapter Table of the church of Santa Margherita, through the Bull Cum illius of Urban V. With this bull Montefiascone was raised to the rank of city and the church of Santa Margherita designated as cathedral of the diocese. Later San Pancrazio probably became a rural church used by the local population. This is in fact described in the report of the Pastoral Visit of 1630, carried out by Gaspare Cecchinelli, bishop of Montefiascone and Corneto. The small church, which continued to be linked to the cathedral chapter even in the eighteenth century, has been closed to worship since the early twentieth century.rnrnExternalrnThe small church has a very compact structure. The diversity of shape, color and arrangement of the ashlars of the masonry testifies to the numerous interventions that, over time, have tampered with the original structure of the building. The gabled façade has a single central architraved entrance, surmounted by fragments of a rounded archivolt. In some ashlars on the sides of the portal there are small engraved crosses. Above the door, a rectangular window allows the interior lighting. In the middle of the façade, on the left, the remains of a buffered single lancet window survive. The southern side of the church is supported at the ends by two buttresses. Above the eastern one stands a small bell gable with a bell, while near the western buttress an architrave door allows access to a vaulted room on which the church stands. Excavated for the most part in the tuff, this environment shows traces of masonry interventions referable to the Roman age. A window on the opposite side of the entrance is the only source of lighting. The apse, whose semicircular profile is interrupted in the southern part by a retaining wall, has an independent roof, located at a lower level than that of the church. At the center of the structure there is a small round lancet window with double splay. The eastern end of the north side has, just below the eaves, four small shelves that support what remains of a molded frame, each decorated with a different motif: a sort of very flat leaf, a scroll, a circular decoration and a double desired. On this side, a rectangular structure with an independent entrance, covered by a double sloping roof, is also leaning against the building. It serves as a sacristy and communicates with the church through an opening located near the apse.rnrnIndoorrnThe interior consists of a single nave, the presbytery is slightly raised and a semicircular apse, in the middle part of which a small single lancet window opens, closing the building to the east. The apsidal dome is the only part of the church that has traces of pictorial decoration. The fresco, in poor condition, depicts the Crucifix with San Pancrazio and Santa Margherita on the sides. Above the cross the dove of the Holy Spirit is depicted. In the lower part runs a floral decorative motif, some fragments of which also continue in the adjacent part of the apse arch. Another decorative motif, with a star shape, is widespread throughout the basin. To close the apse painting there must have been a carved frame of which only a few fragments are visible.