Santa Maria Assunta

About

The Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta (Italian: Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta, Sermoneta) is a Gothic church located in Sermoneta, southern Lazio, Italy. The church is often referred to as a cathedral ("cattedrale") but has never been the seat of a bishop. It is dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

History: The church is documented for the first time in the 12th century (1149–60). A palaeo-Christian church was possibly first built in the 5th century over a temple dedicated to the pagan goddess Cybele. The Romanesque church was refurbished in the next century in a Gothic style.

Description: The church has a tall square bell-tower with rounded arches. The Gothic portico leads to a nave supported by marble columns. The lunette of the portico was frescoed in the 15th century with a Madonna and Child with Saints Peter and Epaphroditus and Christ and four angels by Pietro Colaberti of Piperno. The interior chapels also have frescoes. The first chapel on the right was refurbished in the 1590s by the De Marchis family. The wall frescoes depict contemporary figures such as Carlo Borromeo and the donors. The main altarpiece, the Madonna degli Angeli (c. 1452),...