What to see in Loreto, itinerary including the main places of interest of this religious pilgrimage destination, including the Basilica of the Holy House and the Statue of the Madonna.
Tourist information
Loreto, a city in the province of Ancona in the Marche region, is located on the top of a hill, surrounded by a gentle countryside characterized by olive trees.
At the top of the hill stands the majestic Basilica, the famous Sanctuary of Loreto, around which the town was built, which has the oldest nucleus surrounded by walls, and the external part dating back to the end of the 16th century.
Loreto is a destination for pilgrimages of the Faith continuous due to the presence of the precious relic of the Holy House inhabited by the family of the Virgin Mary in Nazareth, brought to Italy after the fall of the crusader kingdom in the Holy Land in the 13th century.
What see
The large Basilica was built around this small sacred building, whose work began in 1469 in the late Gothic style and was completed in 1587 with the facade in the late Renaissance style.
The Holy House consists of only three walls, because the part where the altar is located today corresponded to the entrance of the cave, and therefore there was no wall.
The statue of the Madonna venerated in the Holy House was sculpted by Pius XI in 1922, on wood of a Lebanese cedar from the Vatican Gardens, as the original statue had been destroyed by fire in the previous year.
