Bologna-based Mario Cucinella Architects has created the concrete Santa Maria Goretti Church, which incorporates a cross-shaped entrance, in the town of Mormanno, southern Italy.
Built overlooking the mountainous Pollino National Park, the modern church stands at the edge of the hilltop town of Mormanno.
Santa Maria Goretti Church was built on the edge of Mormanno
Mario Cucinella Architects aimed to design a building that was both contemporary and connected to the local community.
"We wanted to create a contemporary building that expresses a strong sense of continuity as we felt for a church, in particular, this sense of connection is important," said Mario Cucinella Architects founder Mario Cucinella.
It has views over the surrounding mountains The concrete church is surrounded by curving white walls that surround the four-leaf clover-shaped main auditorium.
According to the studio, this form was derived from reinterpreting the shape of Baroque churches in the Calabria region of Italy.
The church entrance incorporates a cross
"Our design for Santa Maria Goretti is serene and monolithic and looks at local precedents of Calabrian ecclesiastical architecture, but also natural forms in a way that is perhaps primeval or timeless," Cucinella told Dezeen.
"We looked at Baroque precedents in Italy, like San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane by Borromini, and the way these embody ritual."

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