The church of Santa Maria della Stella, in Albano Laziale, stands above one of the oldest Christian sites in the area. Beneath it lay a necropolis, later used for Christian burials too, which spread into an old pozzolana quarry: these are the catacombs of San Senatore, dated between the fourth and fifth centuries and in use until the ninth. Above the catacombs a hermitage dedicated to Saint Senator arose; in 1565 Fabrizio and Cristoforo Savelli, lords of Albano, built a church in its place and settled a convent of Carmelites there. In 1687 church and convent were altered with a contribution from the town.
What to see
The interior is Baroque in taste. The high altar is adorned with eighteenth-century polychrome marbles; behind it a pedimented structure frames the painting of the Virgin and Child among angels. On the Virgin's mantle is a star, and that is where the church's name comes from. Four plaster statues stand on top of the wall that divides the presbytery in half, and on the end wall is the coat of arms of the Savelli princes.
Next to the church is the town's historic cemetery: the original entrance is a classical portal with granite columns and white marbles, and the inscription gives the year of its consecration, 1833.
Visiting
The church's opening times and the arrangements for visiting the catacombs should be checked with the parish or with Albano's civic museums.
Our editors' tip
In 1867 Maria Theresa of Habsburg-Lorraine, Queen of the Two Sicilies and second wife of Ferdinand II, was buried in this church; she had died of cholera together with the youngest of her children. It was also once believed that a Roman temple dedicated to Aesculapius had stood here.
