Description of the attraction
Santa Maria della Piazza is a lovely Romanesque church in Ancona, built between the 11th and 12th centuries. Earlier in its place were two small early Christian churches dating back to the 6-7th centuries. Some of the temple's current flooring is made of glass to allow visitors to view fragments of those ancient buildings.
The Church of Santa Maria della Piazza is rectangular in shape with a central nave, two side chapels and a slightly raised apse. The lower part of the facade is decorated with numerous false arched openings, and in the central part you can see the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. At the very top there is a rectangular window - it was made after the earthquake of 1690, like the brick part of the nearby bell tower. A certain Master Filippo worked on the facade of the early 13th century, as evidenced by the inscription in the lunette, and the arched portal is the creation of Master Leonardo. Master Filippo was also the author of the reconstruction of the Romanesque Cathedral of San Leopardo and the Church of San Tecla in Osimo.
Under the building of Santa Maria del Piazza, as mentioned above, there are fragments of two early Christian churches with antique mosaics. The oldest fragments belong to a building that was probably destroyed during the Gothic wars in the 6th century. Above them are the ruins of a newer and less elegant building. Other ruins under the church include a well, some frescoes and traces of ancient Greek walls.
Once in the church of Santa Maria della Piazza there was a painting "Altarpiece of Adebard" by Lorenzo Lotto, which can be seen today in the Municipal Pinacoteca of Ancona.
