The Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta ( it, Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta, Sermoneta) is a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

church located in

Sermoneta Sermoneta is a hill town and ''comune'' in the province of Latina (Lazio), central Italy. It is a walled hill town, with a 13th-century Romanesque cathedral called Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta and a massive castle, built by the Caetani f ...

, southern

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, 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 The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution ''Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows: We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by Go ...

History

The church is documented for the first time in the 12th century (1149–60). A

palaeo-Christian The history of Christianity concerns the Christian religion, Christian countries, and the Christians with their various denominations, from the 1st century to the present. Christianity originated with the ministry of Jesus, a Jewish teac ...

church was possibly first built in the 5th century over a temple dedicated to the pagan goddess

Cybele Cybele ( ; Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya/Kubeleya'' "Kubileya/Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian ''Kuvava''; el, Κυβέλη ''Kybele'', ''Kybebe'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forer ...

. 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 Epaphroditus ( el, Ἐπαφρόδιτος) is a New Testament figure appearing as an envoy of the Philippian church to assist the Apostle Paul (Philippians 2:25-30). He is regarded as a saint of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Churc ...

'' 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 Charles Borromeo ( it, Carlo Borromeo; la, Carolus Borromeus; 2 October 1538 – 3 November 1584) was the Archbishop of Milan from 1564 to 1584 and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was a leading figure of the Counter-Reformation combat ...

and the donors. The main altarpiece, the ''Madonna degli Angeli'' (c. 1452), is attributed to

Benozzo Gozzoli Benozzo Gozzoli (4 October 1497) was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. A pupil of Fra Angelico, Gozzoli is best known for a series of murals in the Magi Chapel of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, depicting festive, vibrant processions wi ...

. Other sources attribute the work to the time after a plague epidemic or earthquake in 1456–57. The church also has frescoes attributed to

Bernardino Cesari Bernardino Cesari (1571 – 30 June 1622) was an Italian painter of the late-Mannerist and early Baroque period, active mainly in Rome and Naples, where he assisted his brother Giuseppe Cesari (Cavaliere d'Arpino). On 9 November 1592, he was sent ...

depicting the ''Life of the Virgin''. Works of art in the church is an altarpiece depicting the ''Holy Family with St Anne and John'' from a 16th-century Neapolitan artist. The church also has a 15th-century ''Last Judgement'' fresco. In the adjacent Diocesan Museum of Art are altarpieces including:Comune of Sermoneta
short entry. *''Coronation of the Virgin'' (1576) by

Girolamo Siciolante Girolamo is an Italian variant of the name Hieronymus. Its English equivalent is Jerome. It may refer to: * Girolamo Cardano (1501–1576), Italian Renaissance mathematician, physician, astrologer and gambler * Girolamo Cassar (c. 1520 – after ...

*''St. Michael Archangel'' (1595) by Francesco da Castello *''Madonna and Child with Saints Stephen and Lawrence'' (17th century) *''Annunciation'' (1606) by

Matteo Rosselli Matteo Rosselli (10 August 1578 – 18 January 1650) was an Italian painter of the late Florentine Counter- Mannerism and early Baroque. He is best known however for his highly populated grand-manner historical paintings. Biography He first app ...

*''Madonna of the Rosary with St Francis, Jerome, Dominic, and Catherine of Siena'' by Giovanni Domenico Fiorentini *''Madonna and Child with Saints Ignatius, Francesco Borgia, Stanislao Kostka, Aloysius Gonzaga, Francis Xavier, and the blessed Claudio Acquaviva'' by

Odoardo Vicinelli Odoardo Vicinelli (1684–1755) was an Italian painter of the late- Baroque period. He trained under Giovanni Maria Morandi of Florence. In Rome he also worked with Pietro Nelli Pietro Nelli (1672 – after 1730) was an Italian painter of the la ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria Assunta Sermoneta 13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Gothic architecture in Lazio