Basilica Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta

The church of Santa Maria Assunta is the cathedral of Montalto, and one of the two concattedrali the diocese of San Benedetto del Tronto-Ripatransone-Montalto. In 1965 it was elevated to the rank of minor basilica by Pope Paul Diocese of Montalto was founded by Pope Sixtus V in 1586 and the existing church of Santa Maria was built in Collem to provisional cathedral. The construction work of a new and larger cathedral began May 30, 1589 with the laying of the foundation stone: architect of the initial projects was Girolamo Rainaldi. On the death of Pope Sixtus (1590) crypt was almost completed but still much there was to do, and work continued for a minimum of another century. At the end of the seventeenth century it was given the practicability and you could begin to officiate in the new cathedral, although unfinished. Annibale Carracci was commissioned the Madonna di Montalto, now preserved in Bologna. In the middle of the seventeenth century was built the staircase which connected the crypt, a Greek cross, with the upper church, a Latin cross with three naves and twelve side chapels. In later centuries each bishop gave his contribution to improve and complete the sacred building. The baptismal font, for example, dates back to 1652, was placed in its current location in 1967.