The Church of St. Lawrence is the oldest church in the village of Civitella San Paolo and was mentioned for the first time in a 1218 document as ecclesia Sancti Laurentii extra castrum Civitellae, “the church of St. Lawrence outside the fortress of Civitella”.
The Church originally comprised a single rectangular chamber with a pitched roof and an apse at one end and has been modified over time. In 1693, the Chapel of Our Lady of Succour was built, as an inscription inside attests, while the Chapels dedicated to St. Philip Neri and St. Lawrence were added later, in the first half of the 18th century. Building the Chapel of St. Lawrence required moving the entrance to the west side of the building.
The building became a cemetary church in 1868 when the old Church of St. James and the adjacent cemetary were demolished to allow for the building of a new parish church. Building work to expand the cemetary in 1981-1982 uncovered the remains of a 4th century BC Roman villa and a small necropolis dating to the 5th century BC. The ruins were, however, recovered and are no longer visible. Having remained closed for over twenty years, the church was re-opened in 1999 after work to strengthen the cupola in 1990 and other restoration and renovation work on the complex, funded by the Province of Rome, in 2001.
The church is situated on the site of a Roman villa close to the cemetary. The congregation meets in a rectangular chamber with a pitched roof. The walls to the chamber and to the central chapel are covered with inscribed slabs honouring the soldiers that died in WWI and WWII. Two chapels stand to each side of the entrance; to the left, the Chapel of St. Lawrence, decorated with stucco work with an 18th century feel and, to the right, the Chapel of St. Philip Neri whose altar piece was recently mutilated, and where two stone slabs can be seen, with Latin inscriptions dating to 16th century and the Malatesta family crest.
The central chapel, bigger than the side chapels, has an elliptical cupola, an unusual feature for the provinces of Rome and Viterbo. The original painting on the altar depicts Our Lady of Succour and Child, with two angels holding the symbols of Christ's martyrdom, the crown of thorns and the cross. There are frescoes behind the altar, unearthed during recent restoration work.
Adjacent to the Church is a hermitage, mentioned for the first time in a 1726 pastoral visit report. A fragment of Roman wall can be seen inside.