TIn the territory of Aliano, a short distance from the point in which the Lete torrent joins the river Volturno, on a small plateau sloping towards the Lete, stands what remains of the monastery of S. Maria in Cingla. The site’s name (Cingla/Cegna) derives from the fact that the monastery stands on a ledge (cengia) situated between the two rivers at the point where they meet. This position was particularly favourable from a naturalistic, and therefore economic point of view, due to the presence of the rivers and of several roads which in the early Middle Ages provided links to the main settlements. The monastic centre was part of the group of foundations which grew up between circa 680 and 770, within the Duchy of Benevento, following the conversion to Catholicism of the dukes and local aristocracy.

The structures of the church front still exist. In fact, part of the original wall can be seen in the façade, the northern perimeter wall of the basilica and part of the foundation of the colonnade dividing the central nave from the northern side nave is also recognisable. This evidence, together with the observation of the surviving standing walls and a comparison with the documentation made during the 1980s, confirms the similarity of the building to other contemporary churches present in northern Campania, with a similar structure of three naves and three slightly projecting apses and no transept, such as the abbey of S. Angelo in Formis near Capua. According to the plans by Villani, the three part termination of the choir would not perhaps have been visible from the exterior (or not entirely), due to the presence of a wall built on a tangent to the apses, placed at an angle of 90° with respect to the church’s axis.

In Campania, between the late 11th and beginning of the 12th century, this solution seemed to have been adopted only in the church of S. Menna at S. Agata dei Goti, consecrated by Paschal II in 1110. Villani’s plan shows two low transverse walls which, project from the colonnades about half way into the central nave, and seem to form a sort of presbytery enclosure (a similar structure was created in the main church at San Vincenzo al Volturno when the marble pavement was re-laid in the mid 11th century). From a survey of this area it also appeared that to the north of the basilica, in proximity to the façade, there were structures belonging to another building on the same alignment as the church but not attached to it. This structure was perhaps a cloister.

The pottery forms recovered date from the 1st century A.D. to the medieval period. There was a predominance of pottery decorated with red painted bands typical of the 9th and 11th centuries. This suggests that these phases, which were probably obliterated by the restructuring ordered by the abbots of Monte Cassino at the beginning of the 12th century, must have been of a certain importance. The last restructuring of the monastery does not seem to have effected the whole of the complex, as the number of monks within the community seems to have diminished when the monastery definitively became the property of Monte Cassino. (MiBAC)