Description

The Church of Santa Maria inherited the title from the old Church of San Giovanni outside the town of Valcaldara.

According to tradition, it was built where the Blessed Lucia founded the cloister. It is reinforced by an 18th-century buttress. The completely modernized interior has a stone baptismal font (1585) with a coat of arms and walnut cover; a 16th-century Pietà, possibly by a Carducci; the Madonna of Loreto in wood and papier-mâché, with the holy house alongside it. In the presbytery there is a wooden statue of St. John the Baptist (16th cent.) from the Church of San Giovanni; the wooden statue of St. Peter (16th cent.) possibly comes from the church of the same name. On the high altar there is a copy of the Our Lady of Sorrows of Norcia (18th cent.) along with four elegant 17th-century angels.

The sacristy has a wooden reliquary box from the 16th century with a coat of arms and other ornaments.