Cappella Madonna della Losa

This is a church that refuses to follow the rules. The Cappella Madonna della Losa, a Byzantine-era structure in Italy, presents a plan that runs north-south, an unusual orientation for a Christian place of worship, which typically aligns east-west. Its single nave is covered by a barrel vault and ends in a flat apse, while a perpendicular, older chapel hall sits beside the presbytery, similarly vaulted and frescoed.

The load-bearing stone masonry is plastered and painted both inside and out, except on the bell tower. That tower is Romanesque in style, square in plan with thickened corners marked by lesenes, and topped by a pyramidal spire with tufa corbel arches, a compact, sturdy gesture towards the medieval. Inside, the vault rests on a cornice, with walls articulated by pilasters that define the division between presbytery and congregation. It is a building of deliberate, quiet eccentricity.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.