Chiesa di Santa Maria a Mare

On the Adriatic coast, the Chiesa di Santa Maria a Mare is a compact stone church whose plan is straightforward: a single nave, rectangular, with three apses. The masonry is of smoothed blocks, and the exterior is animated by a row of small blind arches resting on corbels and pilasters. The apses themselves are set into a smaller, secondary body, flanked by two more apses at the sides.

Beneath, the crypt rests on massive blocks and semi-pilasters, its capitals carved with vegetal motifs; it follows a rectangular plan with three apses. The main portal, placed beside the campanile, is topped by a triangular pediment. On the façade, square windows; near the apses, pointed-arch ones. Inside, a late-eighteenth-century wooden pulpit, carved and painted, survives. Fragments of frescoes from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries remain on the walls. The church is a quiet example of local Romanesque, its details suggesting long use and adaptation.

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