According to tradition, the church of Saint Mary of the Olive Tree in Sant'Elia Fiumerapido was built following a miraculous event.
The name comes from the apparition of the Madonna to a mute shepherdess in an "olive tree" plantation at the end of 1500s.
The shepherdess regained the power of speech and Our Lady asked her to build a church in her honour in an area which was indicated by a row of ants that ‘flowed’ from the olive tree.
It was built in 1592, as reported by the date carved in the altar.
The church is in the Baroque style and in its interior has a nave with six side altars.
On one of these altars is an eighteenth century canvas painted by the Neapolitan artist Lorenzo de Caro, depicting the Visitation of Our Lady to St. Elisabetta.
On the high altar is a glass case containing the statue of the Madonna carved in olive wood and dating back probably to the same XVI century.
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