Santa Maria ad Nives Sant'Elia a Pianisi

As a result of researches, studies and excavations in the santeliano countryside, the dynamics of medieval settlements have been reconstructed and traced. To date, the investigations, mostly concentrated on the high ground of Pianisi, have brought to light several testimonies and remains of the inhabited area with large sections of the walls of the upper terracing of the fortified village, the great tower that dominates the inhabited area and the church of Santa Maria ad Nives with its bell tower. Thanks to the deforestation of the upper part of the archaeological area enclosed, further downstream, by the supporting walls of the terracing and the tower, the remains of a church have emerged, with a single nave (width 6.10 m), with a north-south orientation. The excavations have partially brought to light the perimeter of the nave, the back wall with the apse and the adjacent bell tower; the façade of the building is still to be identified. Further downstream it has been recognized, but not yet investigated, a second, thicker terracing wall characterized by the presence of a drainage arch.
The masonry structures are made of limestone blocks without any traces of workmanship, as they are split following the cracks in the rock
in the quarry.