Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta in Cielo

Facing Palazzo Chigi across Piazza di Corte, the collegiate church of Santa Maria Assunta in Cielo is a circular Baroque church designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Its broad dome was blessed in 1665 in the presence of Pope Alexander VII, and it remains Ariccia's parish church.

Why it matters

Bernini conceived the church and square as a unified composition, with the Assunta as a counterpoint to the ducal palace. Its circular plan recalls the Pantheon in a Christian form. The church became an insigne collegiate church in 1667 and has served as Ariccia's parish church ever since.

What to notice

The circular hall sits beneath a hemispherical dome about 17 metres across, supported by eight piers. Antonio Raggi's stucco angels animate the cupola, while Guillaume Courtois's fresco of the Assumption fills the apse above the high altar. Side altars hold paintings attributed to Raffaello Vanni, Ludovico and Giacinto Gimignani, Emilio Taruffi, Bernardino Mei and Alessandro Mattia da Farnese. The three-arched portico is flanked by two smaller porticoes; above the door, the Chigi star accompanies the Marian motto “Stella matutina ora pro nobis.” Relics of Saint Deodato were placed beneath the high altar in 1687.

Context and history

A collegiate church of the Assumption stood at Ariccia by the early Middle Ages. Bernini's seventeenth-century structure was built as part of the Chigi urban project. The church was blessed on 16 May 1665 in the presence of Alexander VII and Cardinal Flavio Chigi. On 10 March 1667 the pope elevated it to an insigne collegiate church; full consecration followed in 1778 under Cardinal Andrea Corsini.

Lightning and fire damaged the dome in 1847, leading to restoration from 1852. Wartime damage in 1944 was repaired between 1948 and 1956, and the cupola received structural consolidation and a new lead covering in 1982.