Church of Santa Maria “la Vecchia”

The church located in the centre of Ribis has Romanesque origins and was later modified in the 16th century. Initially known as Santa Maria “la Bella,” from the 17th century it became known as “la Vecchia” (“the Old”) to distinguish it from the Sanctuary of Santa Maria del Carmine, built in 1648. 

The building stands on ground raised above street level. 

Recent restoration works have reinstated the entire external masonry, with the exception of the chapel and the sacristy. 

The gabled façade features a lintelled portal surmounted by a central rose window framed in carved stone. Traces of the roof slopes of a smaller, earlier structure are still visible. Although documented from the 14th century, the church has older origins. 

The eaves line is decorated with terracotta blind arches. The stone portal has two steps, with moulded jambs and lintel. 

The bell tower is detached from the façade and located on the northern side. Its shaft features slit windows and horizontal string courses. The tower has a square plan with round-arched bifora openings and a four-pitched roof crowned by a metal cross and weather vane.

The interior consists of a rectangular nave and a deep, narrow rectangular presbytery at the same level, aligned with the smaller rectangular body of the sacristy. On the northern side projects the rectangular volume of a small lateral chapel. 

The presbytery is raised by one step and covered by a ribbed cross vault resting on stone corbels and converging in a star-shaped rosette. 

On the north side, a round arch opens toward the small rectangular chapel, illuminated by an eastern window. 

Unfortunately, the frescoes dated 1559 by Giacomo Secante, known as Trombon, which once decorated the vault and the choir façade, have been lost. 

The interior is illuminated exclusively from the south by three pointed single-lancet windows. The wooden roof structure features exposed trusses and boarding.