Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta

On the right flank of the abbey palace, the Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta turns its face to the great courtyard, separated from it only by a small parvis paved with river pebbles in decorative patterns. A few steps lead to a diminutive atrium supported on slender columns beneath an elliptical vault, which presides over the first order of the façade, a composition of paired pilasters framing small apertures.

The church is a Baroque shell wrapped around an older spine. Its bell-tower, rising from the right side, declares a deeper history: the lower section, square and buttressed beneath a cornice of hanging arches, is Romanesque. The upper part, octagonal and divided into four storeys by arched stringcourses, dates from the thirteenth century. Single lancets at the second and third levels give way, at the top, to twin openings with stone colonnettes, a scheme recalling the towers of Sant’Andrea in Vercelli. The building thus offers, in one compact structure, a quiet lesson in architectural layering.

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