Santa Maria Assunta or the Chiesa dell’Assunta is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church located in the town of

Riccia ''Riccia'' is a genus of liverworts in the order Marchantiales. Description These plants are small and thalloid, i.e. not differentiated into root, stem and leaf. Depending on species, the thallus may be strap-shaped and about 0.5 to 4 m ...

Province of Campobasso The province of Campobasso (; ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Molise region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Campobasso. It covers an area of and has a total population of 223,871 (2017). There are 84 ''comuni'' (: ''comune'') in ...

in the region of

Molise Molise ( , ; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. Until 1963, it formed part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise together with Abruzzo. The split, which did not become effective until 1970, makes Molise the newest region in Ital ...

, Italy.

History

The church is medieval and rebuilt and enlarged in the 18th century with reconsecration in 1765. The Romanesque-style portal derives from the 13th-century has foliage and animal symbols, and in the cornice frieze, it has the heraldic signs of the families of Bartolomeo de Capua and Aurelia Orsini. On the left, at the end of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, the ribs of the ceiling of the chapel have gothic-style arches with spiral motifs. The church contains an altarpiece depicting the ''Dormition of the Virgin'' (circa 1480) attributed to Silvestro Buono, a Neapolitan pupil of

Antonio Solario Antonio Solario ( 1502–1518), also known as Antonio de Solario or da Solario and sometimes by the nickname Lo Zingaro ("The Gypsy"), was an Italian painter of the Venetian school, who worked in Naples, the Marche and possibly England. His care ...

. In the opposite wall is the painting of a local hermit, the ''Blessed Stefano Corumano with Virgin and Child''. The main altar was made of marble and

pietra dura ''Pietra dura'' (), ''pietre dure'' () or intarsia lapidary ( see below), called ''parchin kari'' or ''parchinkari'' () in the Indian subcontinent, is a term for the inlay technique of using cut and fitted, highly polished colored stones to c ...

in the 17th century. Among the relics of the church are those of San Ciriaco, Santa Massimiliana, San Mercurio, San Timoteo, San Vitale, and the arm of Blessed Stefano Corumano. It is said the relics of San Vitale were obtained in 1755 in Rome from Cardinal Vicario by Nicola de Capua, Amministrator of the Prince of Riccia. The relics, collected in a decorated urn, were brought into the church with a great procession. In August 1762, two lightning bolts during a storm hit the belltower, killing three individuals and causing damage to the building, but spared the altar and urn of San Vitale. When the urn was reopened in 1883, an inscription stated: ''The Holy Body of the Martyr of Christ, San Vitale, was extracted from the Cemetery of S. Saturnino in Via Salaria, with a glass vase containing his glorious blood.'' Among the statues in the church was a ''St Augustine'' (1726), carved in Naples by the sculptor Giovanni Buonavita. The main altar was built of local stone levigata with intarsia of serpentine marble.Riccia nella storia e nel folk-lore
by Berengario G. Amorosa, page 165-170.

History

References

See also