The Church of Santa Maria Assunta is a beautiful church in Positano, famous for the 12th century Byzantine icon known as the Madonna di Positano. SHORT HISTORY The history of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta is linked to that of the Benedictine Monastery of Santa Maria, which according to tradition was built in the 12th century, on the occasion of the arrival in Positano of the Byzantine icon of the Madonna. However, the monastery was founded earlier, in the second half of the 10th century, and was mentioned for the first time in a manuscript dated back to the end of the 11th century. The monastery was renowed until the middle of the 15th century, when the monks, perhaps frightened by the raids of the pirates from Cilento, abandoned it. After a few years, the church was entrusted to the commendatory abbot Nicola Miroballi, later elected archbishop of Amalfi. With some exceptions, the period of the commendatory abbots was disastrous for the church. The architectural traces of the monastery were gradually lost, while the church deteriorated profoundly. In the early years of the 17th century, the church was subjected to a reconstruction comissioned by the abbot Pirro Giovanni Read more [...]
All Churches in Positano
Italy has many churches, and all of them are beautiful and full of spectacular works of art. The main church of the city is referred as Il Duomo, but you will find churches that are named Basilica, Chiesa or Cattedrale, depending on their size and importance.
Some of the most beautiful churches in Italy are the Basilica di San Marco and the Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence, the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome, the Cathedral of the Nativity of Saint Mary and the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta in Orvieto and the Basilica of San Zeno Maggiore in Verona.