Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Piane

S. Maria delle Piane is the parish church of the country, that is, Catholic place of worship for the rural people, for the people, whose history begins with the cards of the fourteenth century. The ecclesiastical territory of the High and Late Middle Ages in fact as a center of religious activity the “rectory”, also known as the “Mother Church” which extends throughout its jurisdiction over the entire populace of the area and is the point from which it extends the ‘ assistance to the chapels located in the villas. And ‘the place where the villas converge for the sacrament of baptism and often also for burial. The church is located in the village of Quintodecimo, a small settlement place 2km from their municipality of Acquasanta Terme which lies on the hill slopes of the Monti della Laga, about 450 m above sea level and is crossed by the river Tronto. The “written history” of this village began in the year 1052, when Pope Leo IX granted to the Bishop of Ascoli approval for the purchase of “hill of Quintodecimo” to whom it belonged before that year (though the king of Germany such as failure of Accumoli and perhaps Aquilaria, or if local landlords) is still being researched. The term “hill” suggests that the village, in 1000, was not developed only on the right side of the Tronto, on the hill that is home to St. Mary’s Fork (who only later became known as the Holy Cross): when he was born the second Quintodecimo church, also dedicated to the Virgin, it was necessary to call it “St. Maria delle Piane “or” Plan “, to distinguish it from the” Poggio “. Probably the church’s position was influenced by the presence of the Roman bridge of wood across the river Tronto at that point. Riformanze in the ‘500, Quintodecimo was officially listed as “castle” autonomous, though in fact, he was awarded the title already in 1291, when the village passed from the hands of the Bishop-Count under the power of Ascoli. Indeed, even today, many aspects would suggest that the village was dominated, if not a real castle, at least from a tower; you may in fact notice that the south side of the church of SS. Crucified, in the upper part of the country, it extends outwardly through a wall of stone with high inclination and with an invoice architectural typical of the shoe of a bastion square plan. The rectory of St. Mariae de Plebano has undergone several restorations over the centuries, the most significant of which dates back to 1908-09. It saw the raising of the perimeter walls of about 4 meters and there was the inclusion in the same six crude windows which filter and color, through the chrome of their windows, the light coming inside. The height of the church above the street level is clearly lower, so that before the rise of its walls, was not clearly visible from the street level, in fact: from a photo of 1904, in fact, it was not only lower, too horizontal crowning, and upon it reached a high bell tower with three arches, each supporting a bell. A small rose window and a new portal in local sandstone, on which you can still read the date of installation, were added to the facade in the same years. The architectural features brickwork made entirely of sandstone, is a face view of the outside, while inside is completely painted. The church, with a single hall, has an almost rectangular plant with polygonal apse; It stands near the river that flows in a direction parallel to its longest side. Externally it has clear the changes undergone over time; you may notice in fact, adjacent to the north elevation, volumes compartment sacristy and bell tower. On the southern side, which faces the street, there is a small archway brick introducing directly to the balcony that houses the choir. The eastern façade is located the main entrance; the facade precisely a result of one of the last restoration, is made up of a smooth wall curtain, interrupted only by the simple rose window and the entrance portal. Inside, a small lobby opens onto three entrances: one in front of the main one, the other two on the sides leading travertine water font at the right and the baptismal font in marble left. Once joints properly in the nave, we are facing a clear view of the rectory and fascinating: the flooring is placed in the Venetian opera, that is made with elements of grit of various colors, cut and combined together to form geometrical figures more or less circular. The side walls, entirely painted, are interspersed with rib-height, on which rests the roof trusses. Continuing the high altar is meet: a mock wooden pulpit with coverage of the early ‘900, a bezel below the Christ who died and a minor altar adjacent to the wall of the left, the old tabernacle in 1599 near the entrance to the sacristy, a main altar and the crib standing on the right. The high altar is raised above the entrance fee and the rest of the nave by two notches, in a ‘fascinating perspective that sees almost enveloped by the embrace of a lunette vault that forms the cover of the apse. Above the altar it is placed the same wooden crucifix. The roof structure is made of wooden beams supporting a second structure of purlins surmounted by tiles on which the tiles mantle. The wooden trusses are covered with painted wooden covers. All paintings are the result of Augusto Mussini, said “Brother Paul”, who in 1907 went to Quintodecimo. He came to the event in the church of Santa Maria delle Piane, unadorned time and almost in ruins, where they were performing modest restoration. He soon began to take an interest in “the crumbling temple in the mountains.” Ultimate the walls, the church regains the original Romanesque-Lombard. The arrival of Brother Paul Quintodecimo was followed shortly afterwards by one of his students, Arturo Cicchi and Giuseppe Poli, to which he added Didymus Nardini, all committed, as the teacher, in the decoration of the church. The fresco decorations of the entire temple engage them throughout 1910. Brother Paul began to decorate the apse, where he painted a tangle of strings of Leonardo’s taste, with the light that falls from a window, the panes of which represented a crucified. It passed, then, to the pediment of the apse, where depicted in a large composition, the history of the human race in its most significant moments, from the ancient to the New Testament, summarized in two key moments, The Fall and Redemption of Man . Fulcrum of the whole composition is the Crucified, placed in the middle of the scene. Christ cocks his head on his right shoulder in the abandonment of the agony and looks back on the sheep at his feet. Right, Adam and Eve, from the forms of Michelangelo, represent humanity’s sin, while outside the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin symbolize the Redemption. Depicted on the altar of the right, center, and The Annunciation of Mary, at the side, San Luigi Gonzaga and St. Anthony of Padua, left the altar of Our Lady of the Rosary with St. Anne and St. Agnes and Sant next ‘Eurosia. The large central altar piece of the right is the Assumption of Mary, surrounded by light violazzurra. In 1913 it was completed the decoration of the church of Santa Maria delle Piane with the latest work that is The Baptism of Jesus Christ in fake graffiti on the baptistery and a large oil on canvas with beautiful decorative patterns on the old wooden pulpit, while students complete, a design of the master, the frescoes of the choir.