The Chiesa di Santa Maria dell’Olmo was built in the 16th century to house a Gothic-style shrine, which remains inside the church today. Tradition has it that a majestic elm tree stood near the church, giving the building its name. The votive shrine was located at a crossroads, a key point of the local road system, from which it was possible to climb to the castle of Moresco, continue to the town of Monterubbiano, reach the coast or follow the banks of the Aso River. The temple, enlarged in 1521 and assigned with titular priest from 1545, features an exterior marked by pilasters and buttresses set against the sides, completed by a prothyrum supported by brick pillars. The façade, divided by four tall pilasters, contains a central oculus flanked by small square windows. Inside, the nave is covered by a framework of exposed wooden trusses. A valuable votive aedicule, frescoed by Vincenzo Pagani (ca. 1540) is preserved in the middle of the nave, depicting Christ crucified between the Virgin and Saints Magdalene, John, and Peter, set against a historically significant coastal landscape.
Madonna in Glory, Angels and Saints
In the Church of Santa Maria dell’Olmo, the high altar once housed the Madonna in Glory with Angels and Saints, a wooden panel painting made by Vincenzo Pagani, now kept at the Palazzo Comunale (Town Hall).The work depicts the Madonna in Glory with Child and the town’s patron saints — Lorenzo, Rocco, Sofia and Nicolas — set against a probable idealized view of the town.
