The Sacro Monte di Graglia is one of the numerous devotional places around the Italian Alps and it houses the Santuario di Nostra Signora di Loreto, one of the four major sanctuaries of the Biellese territory. Set in the Valle Elvo at 690 m on the sea level, the sanctuary is built near the Lauretana water industry.
The complex is a stage of many devotional paths, which include the CoEur - In the heart of European paths and the Path of Saint Charles.
The history of the Sacro Monte is related to the religious feelings of the early 17th century, when the idea of a "New Jerusalem" built in the neighbourhood was famous thanks to the Sacro Monte di Varallo.
Don Andrea Velotti, the parish priest of Graglia had this idea in 1605, as he came back from the Holy Land. The project imagined the building of 100 chapels decorated with statues narrating several biblical episodes, from the Genesis to the Life of Jesus.
The building began in 1616 and lasted eight years: in this period only 10 chapels were built and the whole project stopped when don Velotti died in 1624.
In the following years, thanks to the grace received from Nostra Signora di Loreto, a new project was designed: the building of a majestic sanctuary consecrated to the Madonna Lauretana, with a shelter for pilgrims. Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy was interested in the project and sent the court military engineer Pietro Arduzzi to design the church, and also financed the building. The building began in 1654 and the central plan church was intent to incorporate, beneath the dome, a chapel picturing the so-called Nazareth's house relic kept in the Basilica della Santa Casa di Loreto. The construction was fast, but it stopped a few times due to wars, famines and epidemics. Only in 1684 the four chapels connected to the sanctuary (Nativity of Jesus, Visit of the Magi, Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, Circumcision) were completed.
In the courtyard were positioned two sundials and a stone fountain (the burnell, typical of all the Biellese sanctuaries).
The conclusion of the Sanctuary took place between 1760 and 1769 thanks to the architect Bernardo Antonio Vittone, who maintained the Greek cross plan. The façade is rough and severe due to the visible bricks and it contrasts with the inner baroque decoration.
The chapel dedicated to the Virgin has the same measures and position of the one in Loreto. A statue of the Black Madonna was placed in the chapel, in order to seal the importance of the worship to the black Madonna in the Biellese territory, adding this church to the Santuario di Oropa.
The dome is a majestic structure (38 m height), painted with frescos with a false perspective in 1780.
In 1788 the inside of the church was modified and the imitation of the Santa Casa di Loreto, set in the centre of the church, was moved forward near the presbytery. In 1828 it was ultimately repositioned in the former Chapel of the Massacre of the Innocents.
The sanctuary is still today destination of pilgrimages, while the only ten chapels of the Sacro Monte realised are in poor conditions. The church of Saint Charles, that was designed to be the end of the Sacro Monte, contains the statue of Saint Charles Borromeo praying before the dead body of Jesus.
The four chapels dedicated to the childhood of Jesus have been added to the church, preserving the statues.
Along the path connecting the sanctuary with Colle S. Carlo, there is a spot where you can produce the phenomenon of the echo, so clear that can repeat up to eleven syllables. [1]
The term Black Madonna or Black Virgin tends to refer to statues or paintings in Western Christendom of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus, where both figures are depicted with dark skin. Examples of the Black Madonna can be found both in Catholic and Orthodox countries.
The Basilica della Santa Casa is a Marian shrine in Loreto, in the Marches, Italy. The basilica is known for enshrining the house in which the Blessed Virgin Mary is believed by some Catholics to have lived. Pious legends claim the same house was flown over by angelic beings from Nazareth to Tersatto, then to Recanati, before arriving at the current site.
San Salvatore in Lauro is a Catholic church in central Rome, Italy. It is located on a piazza of the same name in the rione Ponte. It stands on Via Vecchiarelli, just south of the Lungotevere Tor di Nona and north of via dei Coronari. It is the "national church" of the marchigiani, the inhabitants of the Marche region of Italy. The current protector of this titulus is Cardinal-Deacon Angelo Comastri.
The Sacro Monte di Oropa is a Roman Catholic devotional complex in the province of Biella, Piedmont, northern Italy. It is one of the nine Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy and is on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
The Banchette sanctuary devoted to the Virgin Mary situated in the Banchette hamlet, in the comune of Bioglio, near the village of Pettinengo.
The Sacro Monte di Varese is one of the nine sacri monti in the Italian regions of Lombardy and Piedmont which were inscribed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 2003. It has an altitude of 807 metres above sea level.
Santuario della Brugarola is a sanctuary in Ailoche, Province of Biella in the Italian region of Piedmont. It was built in 1722 and dedicated to the Madonna d'Oropa.
The Sanctuary of Oropa is a group of Roman Catholic buildings and structures in Oropa, frazione of the municipality of Biella, Italy. It is located at a height of 1,159 metres in a small valley of the Alpi Biellesi.
CoEur is a Christian devotional and hiking route in Italy and Switzerland. Its Italian subtitle, Nel cuore dei cammini d'Europa, translates as "In the heart of Europe's paths".
The Path of Saint-Charles is an historical, artistic and devotional route which follows the travels of saint Charles Borromeo from Arona, his native town, and Viverone, where the path joins the Via Francigena.
The Sacro Monte del Santuario di San Giovanni Battista d'Andorno is the Sacro Monte built around a sanctuary in the Cervo Valley above the village of Campiglia Cervo, at an altitude of 1020 meters. It is the only sanctuary devoted to Saint John in Italy and probably in Europe.
The Nostra Signora della Brughiera is a sanctuary devoted to the Virgin Mary in the town of Trivero in northern Italy.
The Cavallero sanctuary devoted to Saint Mary of the Snow. It is set at 543 m height near the Sessera river in the municipality of Coggiola.
The Moglietti sanctuary is a sanctuary devoted to Our Lady of Graces in the comune of Coggiola.
The Sacro Monte di Arona, devoted to Charles Borromeo, is part of the Sacri Monti built in the 16th and 17th centuries. It is located in the territory of the town of Arona, province of Novara, region of Piedmont, Italy.
The Sanctuary of Madonna della Ceriola, is a Roman Catholic church in the municipality of Monte Isola, Italy. It is located on the summit of the lake island also named Monte Isola.
The Sanctuary of Madonna of Miracles is a Roman Catholic Marian sanctuary located in Corbetta, province of Milan, Lombardy, Italy. The sanctuary is dedicated to the Madonna of the Miracles, whose miraculous frescoed image, known as Madonna di Corbetta, was declared in 1955 to be the patron of the Magentino area in 1955 by the then archbishop of Milan and future pope Paul VI.
Andrea Carrera or Carreca was an Italian Baroque painter mainly active in Sicily. He was born in Trapani and died in Palermo.
