Santa Maria extra muros

Just off the main road, the museum complex of Santa Maria extra muros is a “national monument”.
The church, begun towards the end of the 13th century by the order of the Servants of Mary, is the oldest in the city and on one of the pillars you can read the date of consecration: 1331. Admiring the exterior you are struck by the grandeur of the structure and the purity of its Romanesque-Gothic lines that harmoniously blend with a sumptuous interior rich in 13 gilded and carved altars that frame paintings by artists working from the 15th to the 18th century such as: Ghiberti, Della Robbia, Raffaellino del Colle, Francesco Mancini, the Zuccari brothers, Santi di Tito, Schiaminossi etc.

In recent years intense restoration work has brought the Church and the Convent back to their ancient splendour and today it is home to a museum where, by visiting the various exhibition rooms, you can admire works and artifacts that from the Middle Ages to 1800 were inside the numerous churches of Vado. Santa Maria extra muros is the museum that tells the story of an ancient land and is a journey into the memory of a people who can reclaim an important part of their history and roots.