Santa Maria Maggiore 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 Labro, in the

province of Rieti The province of Rieti () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lazio region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Rieti. Established in 1927, it has an area of with a total population of 157,887 people as of 2017. There are 73 ''comuni'' (: '' ...

, region of

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

, Italy.

History

A church at the site has been documented since 1398. At the end of the 15th century, at the site of a castle tower, a church and chapel were built at this site. The baptistry and bell tower are somewhat separate from the church. In 1508, the church was elevated to

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...

by Cardinal Giovanni Colonna, bishop of Rieti. While the exterior is simple, made of irregular stones with a central oculus, two filled in windows, and with a portal flanked by doric pilasters; the interior is notable for Gothic tracery in the arches. The ceilings are painted with a starry sky. There are frescoes from the 16th century Umbrian school depicting an ''Annunciation''.Churches of the Italian Dioceses website
short description of the church.

References

Roman Catholic churches in Lazio Churches in the province of Rieti 15th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy {{Lazio-RC-church-stub