Basilica of Santa Maria a Pugliano

The Basilica of Santa Maria a Pugliano is the main church in Ercolano and the oldest church in the area around Mount Vesuvius.

The church contains two pagan marble sarcophagi from the 2nd and 4th centuries AD, later adapted into Christian altars, probably in the 11th century. There are records of an oratory dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the 11th century on a hill called Pugliano, whose name probably derives from the 'praedium pollianum', a farm on the outskirts of Ercolano belonging to someone called Pollio or Pollione. One noblewoman in Naples in 1076 left legacies to various churches in the city as well as to 'S.Maria at Pugnanum tari 8'.