About
This Romanesque church's interior is decorated with magnificent murals and displays an interesting occurrence at the winter solstice.
The Basilica of Sant'Elia is adorned with some of the most beautiful frescoes in any Romanesque church in the Lazio region of Italy. It is located at the foot of the town of Castel Sant'Elia in the deep Suppentonia valley. Tradition has it that early Christian anchorites and later Benedectine monks chose the location because of its pagan history: there was once a temple to Diana (dedicated by Nero) at this site, and before that and an Etruscan temple to Picus Martius. An early monastery was founded by Anastasius in 520, and its ownership was contested at the time of the Gothic Wars. In 1019, there was a earthquake and part of the basilica collapsed; between 1150 and 1170, it was reconstructed under Abbot Hugh. At the time the basilica was owned by the Farnese family, who had it reconstructed again in 1607 by Carlo Maderno after they had bought it from Cardinal Odoardo Farnese. The basilica underwent restoration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
