The church of Santa Maria Assunta in Cielo is the main place of worship in Cisterna di Latina, in the diocese of Latina-Terracina-Sezze-Priverno, and holds the title of mother church of the deanery of Cisterna. The old church had been built by the Caetani: in 1582 it was raised to a collegiate church, and its clergy was joined to that of Ninfa. In 1790 the architect Cosimo Morelli enlarged it and gave it a Neoclassical form.
What to see
We know what Morelli's church was like: two doorways with travertine jambs, a walnut choir by Francesco Giangiacomo, who also made stuccoes and paintings together with the Velletri painter Vincenzo Vilà, a sixteenth-century painting of the Assumption behind the altar, and six chapels.
Today's interior has been embellished with modern works, largely by the Faenza sculptor Angelo Biancini: a ceramic crucifix in the apse and the bronze door, cast in 1981. In the background a starry vault has recently been made, and behind the altar is a series of saints carved in stone.
Visiting
Opening and Mass times should be checked with the parish.
Our editors' tip
Stop at the door before going in: the bronze bas-reliefs tell the main events in the history of Cisterna. Around it runs a series of terracotta panels with the labours of Hercules and other episodes, for which Biancini reused moulds and panels he had made earlier.
