The church of Santa Maria del Piano Santo was built at the beginning of 1600 by demolishing an ancient “sacellum”, probably dating back to the 15th century, of which currently only the “Incoronazione della Vergine” fresco remains dated around 1370, by the artist known as “Maestro di Offida”. Today the fresco is incomplete because it was partly stolen in 1979. Inside the church there is a rectangular hall with a trussed roof and an elevated presbytery area, enclosed by three pews made in 1912. During the feast of Our Lady, originally on the first of August, the procession of the “canestrelle” (ndt hand woven wicker baskets) used to take place, a long procession of countrywomen dressed in festive clothes that proceeded slowly towards the church with “wide white wicker baskets” full of wheat, skillfully carried on top of their heads protected only by a rolled up “sparra” (kitchen cloth).
Between 1918 and 1920, the small church became a communal grave, where the bodies of the many local victims of the Spanish flu were hastily thrown into.

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