Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie

The church of Santa Maria delle Grazie stands within the archaeological site of medieval Celano on Monte Sirente. Built in the eleventh century, it was the only church spared when Frederick II destroyed the hilltop town in 1223.

Why it matters

The church was the spiritual centre of the medieval settlement, known in earlier records as the ecclesia Sancti Johannis caput aquae. It preserves the memory of the town before its destruction and of the community that later re-established itself in modern Celano.

What to notice

The main portal's architrave bears a carved eagle with a halo and book, a symbol of the church's earlier dedication to Saint John the Evangelist. On the south-east side, the so-called Portal of the Women is flanked by single-lancet windows, a cruciform rose window and the shield of the Berardi counts. Inside, barrel vaults carry fourteenth- and fifteenth-century frescoes, including the Madonna and Child with Saint Catherine, Saint Paul and a seraph. A stone stoup also bears the Berardi arms.

Context and history

The church was built in the mid-eleventh century under Bishop Pandolfo. In 1059 he placed the relics of Saints Simplicio, Costanzo and Vittoriano here; they were transferred to the church of San Giovanni Battista in the refounded town in the fifteenth century. After the 1223 destruction, the church remained at the centre of the abandoned settlement. The Piccolomini later rededicated it to the Madonna delle Grazie and used it as a burial church. Burial continued beneath the floor until the municipal cemetery opened in 1932.