Church of St Facondino
This is the oldest church in the area and it has always been at the head of a parish. It was built to commemorate St. Facondino after his death. The saint is one of the most relevant figures in Gualdo’s history, back then the bishop of the Roman town of Tadino: according to the legend, the church was built on the spot where the two men driving the carriage carrying Facondino’s body stopped and refused to go further on. This primeval church, once destroyed, was re-built nearby in the first two decades of the eleventh century: some accounts attribute its construction to the German Emperor Henry II, called the Lame, when he was traveling along the Flaminia Road; during that occasion, the bones of the saint were moved into the new church, which had been under the Cathedral of Nocera since ancient times. Inside you can see three altars, the main one dedicated to the patron and preserving the relics of St. Facondino and his deacon St. Gioventino.
Externally, the building lost its original architecture over the centuries; on the other hand, the interior maintained the original single-nave structure divided into three bays, the first two surmounted by cross vaults, the last one featuring a common tunnel vault and an apse. The sacristy was added in the second half of the nineteenth century. Next to the church stands a tall medieval bell tower, almost like a watchtower, and the parish house, built in 1880. The church used to host many valuable artworks, while today it only keeps the remains of some paintings, some of them by Matteo da Gualdo.