Located on the north-western and the south-eastern axis at the entrance to the village of Poggio, the Church of Santa Maria della Spina is characterised by a squared plastered façade, adorned with a portal with piers and supported entablature by stone vaults. The façade also boasts an oculus above the portal, crowned by a cornice supported by small shelves on which a row of tiles rests: the large squared façade, hides the gabled roof behind it.

To the right of the façade rises the bell tower with a square base, covered by a small terrace and a spire with an apical cross. The bell tower and the main façade are the result of renovation works carried out at the end of the 19th century.

The original layout, however, can be traced back to the first half of the 16th century. , in conjunction with the decline of the Castle of Poggio and the construction of the current village downstream.

If in the beginning it was called S. Maria della Valle, only later did it become known as S. Maria or Madonna della Spina, in memory of an apparition of the Madonna on a thorn bush. In fact, a small chapel was built on the place where the miracle took place. The church is also mentioned in the register of the pastoral visit of 1573.

Damaged by the earthquake of 1997, it was subsequently restored with interventions concerning the consolidation of the foundations, the consolidation of the wall structures with injections of cement mortar, indenting and insertion of tie rods, as well as the remaking of the roof and wooden trusses, the remaking of the stone and brick floors, and the replacement of the attic in the rectory. She has remained almost unscathed since the 2016 earthquake.

INTERIOR

A single hall with exposed wooden roof, once concealed by a coffered ceiling built in the 19th century and subsequently removed.

The presbytery, which houses a contemporary movable altar in the center, is characterized by the imposing 17th-century pre-conciliar wooden altar, finely worked and decorated, on the sides of which there are two communicating openings with the sacristy behind and surmounted by as many niches that house as many statues of St. Francis and St. Anthony of Padua.

On the sides of the hall, two minor altars of which the one on the left side houses a copy of the altarpiece of the Madonna del Rosario, the original is kept in the town hall of Fiuminata.

On the counter facade, a simple painted wooden choir loft, supported by non-fluted Doric columns, overlooks the main entrance. The natural interior lighting is provided only by the oculus on the facade.