Construction of the primitive church of Santa Maria di Collemaggio, on an isolated hill just outside L’Aquila’s city walls, began in 1287, at the behest of Pietro del Morrone and with the assent of the bishop of L’Aquila. Work proceeded apace, and in 1288, although not yet completed, it was solemnly consecrated by nine bishops, who granted indulgences to those who would contribute, financially or with their own manual labor, to the completion of the building. In the area in front of the façade, on August 29, 1294, Peter himself was crowned pope with the name Celestine V; subject to continuous transformations and modifications, also because of the earthquakes that damaged it several times (the first, destructive ones were those of 1315 and 1349), the basilica was endowed with the marvelous two-colored façade, which still constitutes its major element of notoriety, and with three splendid portals and as many rose windows, after 1424, following the city’s victory over Braccio da Montone’s army. On the left flank is the so-called “Holy Door,” a rich round-headed portal from the late 14th century, enriched in the lunette by a fresco by Antonio da Atri depicting the Madonna and Child, St. John the Baptist and St. Peter Celestine; it is the entrance that is opened on the occasion of the Perdonanza. The grand interior was further modified in the 17th and 18th centuries with the addition of rich Baroque decoration, which a highly contested restoration in the 1970s removed, to restore a medieval bareness to the spaces that was also perhaps too contrived. In a chapel in the transept, a marble mausoleum made in 1517 by Girolamo da Vicenza holds the remains of Pietro del Morrone/Celestine V, moved here in 1327, shortly after his canonization. On the walls, following the removal of the Baroque additions, interesting frescoes have come to light, including a valuable Coronation of the Virgin from the early 15th century, a Crucifixion between the Virgin, St. John the Evangelist and St. Julian, and a Madonna between Saints Agnes and Apollonia; there is also a second Madonna, this time with Child, between St. Michael the Archangel and (perhaps) St. Stephen. Finally, in a niche in the apse is a very unique fresco depicting a Cross (without Christ) between St. George and the resigned Celestine V (15th cent.).
