Like many other Abruzzese churches, the church of Santa Maria ad Cryptas is located in an isolated area about a kilometer away from the town of Fossa (Aquila). It is also a few kilometers from the abbey of Santo Spirito at Ocre, of which it was a dependent for a certain time.  

It represents one of the most beautiful examples of thirteenth-century architecture even though its origins are more ancient. Its positioning on a slope has made significant work necessary to reinforce and stabilize the structure.  

The simplicity of the building’s exterior is misleading: resembling a stone casket, Santa Maria ad Cryptas’s interior is ablaze with brightly colored frescoes. These paintings belong to a long line of fresco cycles from Abruzzo (including those in the oratory of San Pellegrino in Bominaco, San Tommaso in Caramanico, and some of the paintings in Santa Maria di Ronzano in Castel Castagna).  

The frescoes depict a wide variety of themes and are based on the juxtaposition between Old and New Testament scenes.

(Translation by Paula Qefaliaj and Matthew Prisco)