Santa Maria Assunta is a Romanesque-style

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

parish church in

Vasanello Vasanello is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Viterbo in the Italian region Lazio, located about north of GRA (Rome) and about east of Viterbo. Main sights *''Orsini castle'' (12th century). It is a tuff construction with four cyli ...

in the region of Lazio,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

History

Sited near the

via Amerina The ''Via Cassia'' ("way of Cassius") was an important Roman road striking out of the ''Via Flaminia'' near the Milvian Bridge in the immediate vicinity of Rome and, passing not far from Veii, traversed Etruria. The ''Via Cassia'' passed throug ...

, the church likely ministered to pilgrims on the road to and from Rome. The church was likely erected in the 11th century. Over the years, the walls and what is now the bell-tower became part of the defensive wall of the town. The town walls were mostly torn down in 1885. The interior has undergone many refurbishments. The church has three naves, divided by columns with Romanesque capitals in

peperino Peperino is an Italian word describing a brown or grey volcanic tuff, containing fragments of basalt and limestone, with disseminated crystals of augite, mica, magnetite, leucite, and other similar minerals. The name originally referred to the da ...

stone. The church ends in three semicircular apses. These have frescoes of the 12th century. The crypt houses the putative relics of San Lanno (perhaps derived from Lando or Rolando), stated by later hagiographies to have been martyred during the persecutions of emperor

Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...

. The church once sheltered the gilded silver bust of San Lanno (1754). This reliquary bust was donated to the church by Don Giulio Cesare Colonna-Barberini, Duke of Vasanello and Prince of Palestrina. It was made by the jeweler Vincenzo Belli. It is still displayed in festive religious processions.Comune of Vasanello, tourist information.
/ref> This church is distinct from the small Chapel of San Lanno, located about 250 west of the church, which has frescoes by Piermatteo d'Amelia.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria Assunta Vasanello Romanesque architecture in Lazio 11th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Roman Catholic churches in Viterbo