According to tradition, in 1294, angels transported the house where the Virgin Mary received the Annunciation from Nazareth to a laurel grove (lauro) in the Marche hills. Skeptics note that the "Angeli" may have been the Angeli family, who were Crusader-era lords in the eastern Mediterranean and may have physically transported the stones by ship. The house — three brick walls without a floor (the floor and fourth wall remain in Nazareth) — sits inside a marble casing designed by Bramante and built by Andrea Sansovino, Sangallo, and others. Loreto is Italy's most visited Marian shrine and one of the most important Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world. The basilica around the Holy House contains frescoes by Luca Signorelli and Lorenzo Lotto. Marche guide →
Plan my Loreto visit →The Santa Casa (Holy House): A small stone structure (roughly 4x9 meters) enclosed within Bramante's marble "rivestimento" — a masterwork of Renaissance sculpture with scenes from the Life of the Virgin, prophets, and sibyls. You enter through a small door and stand inside the actual stones that (tradition says) sheltered the Virgin Mary. The walls are blackened by centuries of candle smoke and pilgrims' hands. The emotional intensity is palpable regardless of your beliefs — millions of people have prayed in this space.
The basilica: A Gothic-Renaissance church enclosing the Santa Casa. The Sagrestia di San Marco: Frescoes by Melozzo da Forlì (angels playing musical instruments — some of the most joyful figures in Renaissance art). Sagrestia di San Giovanni: Lorenzo Lotto frescoes (1554-56) — painted during his final years when he lived as an oblate at the sanctuary. The piazza: Designed by Bramante and Carlo Maderno, with a baroque fountain and the Palazzo Apostolico (now a painting gallery with works by Lotto, Pomarancio, and others).
Address: Piazza della Madonna 1, Loreto (Marche). Entry: free. Hours: daily 6:15am-7:30pm. Getting there: Loreto station (Ancona-Pescara line, 20min from Ancona), then 1km uphill walk or bus. By car: 30min from Ancona, 45min from Macerata. Duration: 1-1.5 hours. Combine with: Marche coast (Sirolo, Numana — Conero Riviera beaches, 30min), Ancona (30min), Recanati (Giacomo Leopardi's birthplace, 10min).