Church of San Lorenzo

The Church of San Lorenzo crowns the hill above Porto Rotondo's marina, a contemporary building of warm stone and timber that manages to feel genuinely spiritual without copying any historical form. It was designed as part of the original village plan in the 1960s and is unusual among resort churches for the ambition of its art programme.

Inside, the large wooden sculptures by Mario Ceroli dominate the space — figures carved from unpolished olive wood with a rough, organic quality that contrasts with the smooth white walls. The effect is striking, and the church has attracted considerable attention from students of modern sacred architecture. It is open daily and worth visiting even if you have limited interest in churches — it is one of the few things in Porto Rotondo that isn't primarily about the sea.

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A story
The wooden sculptures inside San Lorenzo are the work of Mario Ceroli, a Roman sculptor who was commissioned in the 1960s to create artworks matching the scale and atmosphere of the building. His pieces — monumental figures carved from raw olive wood, rough-textured and commanding — were controversial when installed: some visitors expected polished religious imagery and found the rough-hewn forms unsettling. Over decades the work has come to be seen as a genuinely significant example of 20th-century sacred art.