Basilica della Santa Casa, Loreto

The Basilica della Santa Casa crowns the hill town of Loreto, near the Adriatic coast in the Marche region, and is one of the most important Marian pilgrimage sanctuaries in the Christian world. At its heart stands the Santa Casa, the Holy House, three ancient stone walls that pious tradition holds to be the dwelling of the Virgin Mary in Nazareth, said by legend to have been carried by angels to Loreto in 1294. Construction of the great basilica to shelter and glorify the house began in 1468 and continued for more than a century, drawing in many of the leading architects of the Italian Renaissance, including Giuliano da Maiano, Giuliano da Sangallo and Donato Bramante, who designed the magnificent marble screen that encases the humble brick house in carved reliefs of prophets, sibyls and scenes from the life of Mary. The building rises in Late Gothic and Renaissance forms, its tall dome by Giuliano da Sangallo among the earliest of the Renaissance, while the imposing facade was completed in 1586 and the campanile added by Luigi Vanvitelli between 1750 and 1754. Inside, the contrast between the plain, smoke-darkened walls of the Holy House and the dazzling white marble that surrounds it is the focus of pilgrim devotion, and the sanctuary draws millions of visitors each year. Generations of popes and saints have prayed here, and the shrine has been described as the true Marian heart of Christianity. Beyond its religious significance, the basilica is a treasury of Renaissance art and architecture, with frescoes, sacristies painted by Melozzo da Forli and Luca Signorelli, and a museum of works gathered over the centuries. Set on its hilltop with sweeping views toward the sea, Loreto remains a living centre of pilgrimage and a monument of the first rank.