Overview

The first settlement dates to the 11th century where the ancient parish church of St Benedict stood on the tomb of St Benedict, the town's patron saint. Little remains of this building, because between 1775 and 1778, Milanese architect Pietro Augustoni modified it, designing a Neoclassical style church. Made entirely of brick, the building features a façade with cornices, pilasters and a stone tympanum while the striking large windows in the nave adorned with artistic polychrome mosaic stained-glass windows depict the symbolism of the sacraments. A tombstone, believed to be part of the tomb of the martyr Benedict, is located on the right. Relics, epigraphs, tombstones and several other works are preserved in the church: an altarpiece depicting the Last Supper (1707) by Fermo painter Ubaldo Ricci, an altarpiece of Our Lady of the Rosary (1500s) century attributed to Ascoli painter Nicola Antonio Monti and another of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, by an anonymous artist (1700s); also the simulacrum of the Immaculate Conception (1856), a Dead Christ from the second half of the 19th century and above all the altar of St Benedict the Martyr with relics of the Saint.