The church of Saint Maria Assunta is the most important building in the most important building in the small town of Tarano. It was founded at the beginning of the twelfth century and an iscription walled into the bell tower records the date of 8^th September 1114. The significance of this date is not clear, but it probably refers tothe year of construction of the beel tower.Today the façade of the church is noticeably asymmetrical. It shows signs of numerous alteration, the most major of which must have taken place in the thirteenth century when the church, originally composed of a single nave, was enlarged with two lateral naves. This involved the integrtion of the bell tower which was originally detached from the façade. At the same time it was necessary to build a substructure as a support for the right nave, this was also used to create a series of shops which descend gradually following the line of the steep slope. The insertion of the Cosmatesque rose window above the doorway with its frescoed lunette must date to the same period. Later work has radically altered the building which now has a noticeably irregular trapezoidal form. The interior of the church shows the series of numerous alterations which have modified and transformed the sacred building. The right nave, immmeately after the area occupied by the bell tower and chapel of the Baroque period, begins with two large pointed arches supported by a reused column with a capital decorated with lanceolate leaves, probably of twelfth century date.Of particular note is a fragment of fresco depicting a saint perhaps Saint Bartholomew, of the second half of the thirteenth century.The high quality of the Crucifixion painting, dating from around the mid fourteenth century, is attributed to a master of the Assisi school.