History of the Madonna del Rosario Sanctuary in Pompeii, where it is located, what is dedicated to what has become one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in Italy.
Tourist information
In modern Pompeii stands the Sanctuary dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, an important place dedicated to the sacred cult of the Virgin of the Rosary.
The modern city of Pompeii arose after the construction of the Blessed Virgin Pompeii Shrine, in a decaying area for some time now.
On November 13, 1875 the prodigious image of the Virgin of the Rosary arrived in Pompeii and the first stone of the Sanctuary was laid on May 8, 1876.
The history of the Sanctuary is linked to that of Blessed Bartolo Longo, its founder, and to Countess Marianna Farnararo De Fusco, widow of Count Albenzio de Fusco.
The lawyer Bartolo Longo, who arrived in these places to take care of the properties of the Countess De Fusco, one day, while crossing the countryside, assailed by the doubt of being unable to save his soul, due to a past life that was not very edifying, to the sound of the midday bells he heard a voice saying to him: "If you propagate the Rosary, you will be saved!".
From that moment he understood that his vocation was to spread the cult of the Virgin of the Rosary and began his founding work by dedicating himself to the spiritual care of the farmers of the Valley and to the spreading of the recitation of the Holy Rosary.
This journey of life and faith was shared by the Countess De Fusco, who became his wife in 1885, proving to be a valid and precious collaborator.
Meanwhile the small parish church of the Santissimo Salvatore was renovated and, on the advice of the Bishop of Nola, the construction of a new church was planned, dedicated to the Madonna del Rosario.
The purchase of a painting of the Madonna of the Rosary was also necessary, so that the faithful could gather around to recite the Holy Rosary.
Bartolo Longo, who went to Naples in search of the painting, accidentally met his confessor Father Radente, who told him to go to the Conservatory of the Rosary of Portamedina and to ask Sister Maria Concetta De Litala for an old painting of the Rosary, which he himself he had entrusted her years earlier.
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Bartolo withdrew the painting, despite the poor condition of the canvas and, to transport it to Pompeii, he entrusted it to the carter Angelo Tortora who wrapped it in a sheet and placed it on a manure cart.
The painting was restored and subjected to the veneration of the faithful on February 13, 1876, the date on which the first miracle occurred through the intercession of the Madonna.
Later Bartolo Longo commissioned a further restoration of the canvas by the Neapolitan painter Federico Maldarelli, also asking him to transform the original Santa Rosa into Santa Caterina da Siena, remedying the historical error of the painting, as it represented the Madonna giving the Rosary in Santa Rosa.
Meanwhile, for the construction of the new church, offers came from Naples and from all over the world, while the first workers' houses stood around the building site, followed by the telegraph, the railway station, a small hospital, the meteorological and geodynamic observatories. .
Thus was born the new Pompeii.
What see
The Sanctuary, built between 1876 and 1891 on a project by Professor Antonio Cua of the University of Naples, was enlarged between 1934 and 1939, to cope with the growing number of faithful.
The expansion project was entrusted to the architect and priest Monsignor Spirito Maria Chiapetta.
In 1901 the Sanctuary was elevated to the Pontifical Major Basilica by Pope Leo XIII.
Today the sanctuary is among the most visited in Italy, the destination of many pilgrimages, especially on May 8 and the first Sunday of October, days when the Supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii written by Blessed Bartolo Longo is recited.
About 300 meters from the Sanctuary there is the Villino Museum, Casa del Beato Bartolo Longo.
