The Church of Santa Maria Maggiore is the oldest and most important religious monument of Cervaro, a lovely village located in the region of Lazio, in the province of Frosinone. It is a real historical monument of architecture and culture, with simple essential lines. Not only nowadays, but also in its long past, it has always been the “matrix church“, that is matrix, of the town, as we read in a plaque from the 12th century still visible underneath a stone font: “hecest sola matrix Cervarii“, can be read, or “this is the only (church) matrix of Cervaro”.
The building stands where the ancient Pesculum takes its place from the eastern side, near the medieval ruins of the Borgo and Castello, from which start via Trocchio, via Municipio, via Sobborgo and via XXIV Maggio. The front facade of the castle is clad in square-faced stones, up to the vault, with a stucco-decorated pediment; the portal is instead quadrangular, surmounted by an important composite stone cornice.
Inside, the church contains elegant stucco decorations and fake quadrangular columns; the dome is located at the main altar and houses bas-reliefs depicting the four cardinal virtues: Prudence, Justice, Fortress, Temperance. It also welcomes an artistic wooden crucifix of the ‘600. The polychrome marble altar, of the baroque style, fortunately, did not suffer any demolition after the reform of the Second Vatican Council, which sanctioned the essentiality of the aisle. Other elements of merit are the choir, with graceful carvings on old wood and the pulpit.
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