Chiesa Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta

The Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta stands on the highest part of the Anguillara Sabazia promontory above Lake Bracciano. Its history spans medieval worship, an eighteenth-century rebuilding and later additions, while its interior preserves a major altarpiece by Girolamo Muziano and Cesare Nebbia.

Why it matters

The church is the principal religious landmark of Anguillara Sabazia. Its best-known painting, the Assunzione di Maria con santi, was made in 1592 by Muziano with the collaboration of Cesare Nebbia. The church also preserves the Madonna di Roccamaggiore, a fifteenth-century panel later reworked and associated with the town's civic identity.

What to notice

The façade, completed in 1888 to a design by Antonio Jacometti, has three portals and tall windows. The bell tower dates to 1780. Inside, three naves lead toward a Baroque polychrome-marble high altar and Muziano's Assumption. In a chapel to the right, the Madonna di Roccamaggiore reveals its earlier panel beneath later repainting. The adjacent oratory contains plaster models by Ignazio Jacometti for works placed at the Scala Santa in Rome.

Context and history

Tradition traces the church's origins to the ninth century, and a church dedicated to Mary is documented by 1489. The building was in poor condition by the sixteenth century. Reconstruction began in 1765 to designs by Nicola Lorenzo Piccioni and was completed by Giuseppe Scatuzzi; the church reopened in 1782 and was consecrated in 1794. The bell tower and façade were completed in separate campaigns, in 1780 and 1888 respectively.