Chiesa di Santa Maria

Santa Maria stands below Campello Alto among olive groves and woodland. The parish church combines a simple gabled facade and substantial bell tower with paintings from several periods.

Why it matters

The church belongs to the development of settlement outside the fortified village. Its history is closely connected with the Campello counts’ residence and the community that grew on the lower slopes.

What to notice

A carved portal and large rectangular window mark the restrained facade. The square bell tower gives the exterior a more substantial profile. Inside, a fifteenth-century frescoed niche accompanies paintings of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, preserving successive phases of religious patronage.

Context and history

The church is dated to the thirteenth or fourteenth century. Fourteenth-century restoration followed the conflicts that damaged Campello Alto and accompanied the counts’ building activity below the castle. The settlement associated with Santa Maria developed alongside the neighbouring villa, while later paintings added an early modern layer to the medieval religious building.