Marche: Basilica della Santa Casa di Loreto

There was a lot of traffic on the road to Loreto, a small town some 20 kilometres south of Ancona. Here stands the Basilica of the Holy House of Mary, an important site for pilgrims. The infrastructure of the town was clearly created in an era when pilgrims still travelled on foot or by horse-drawn cart. There was so much congestion in the streets that police officers were called in to direct the traffic. The smaller car parks surrounding the basilica were filled to the brim, while every spot in the large car park west of the complex appeared to be taken as well. Although it is very large, the parking bays there look like they were made for cars manufactured in the 1980s. In an age when many visitors drive SUVs and station wagons, this is most inconvenient. In the end we fortunately managed to find a single empty spot under the rocks. It was a Herculean effort to get our car into it, but ultimately we succeeded. Now that we had arrived, we could start the climb to the sanctuary, which presented itself to us in full glory when we stepped into the Piazza della Madonna.

Legend

In May of the year 1291 the crusader states in the Holy Land had all but disappeared, but the important city of Acre was still in Latin hands. However, Acre was besieged by the Mamluks and was about to fall to the Muslims. The fall of the city would no doubt lead to much bloodshed, the conversion of churches into mosques and the destruction of important relics. Among these relics was a house that according to tradition had once stood in Nazareth. It was the house where Mary had lived and where she had received the Annunciation. It was, moreover, the house where Jesus had lived with his parents and brothers and sisters during his childhood. The exact location of the house in Nazareth is debated. In fact, two locations have been identified, one of which is now occupied by a Catholic church and the other by an Orthodox sanctuary. It is also far from clear where the house stood in 1291, at a time when Nazareth had been in Mamluk hands for decades.[1] Was it still in its original location or had it been disassembled and taken to Acre? However this all may be, tradition dictates that on 10 May 1291 angels airlifted the house to Istria in present-day Croatia, which was then under Venetian rule. For reasons that are quite unclear, they later moved it to Italy, where it is said to have arrived at the summit of a hill in Loreto on 10 December 1294.

The story contains many elements that can be considered pious nonsense, but it would be too easy to dismiss it altogether. The Holy House is composed of three walls made of bricks that could very well date from Jesus’ time. The bricks were, in any case, certainly not made in Italy and match well with buildings in and around Nazareth. Moreover, early Christian inscriptions have been discovered on the bricks. According to an alternative theory the house was not carried to Italy by angels, but transported there by members of the Greek Angelos family (angelos also means angel in Greek). A number of members of this family became Byzantine emperors, while a different branch ruled over the region of Epirus. Nikephoros I, despot of Epirus, had his daughter marry Philip of Taranto, a son of King Charles II of Naples (1285-1309). The Holy House was supposedly part of the dowry and transported to Italy by sea. This story has many appealing elements, but it does not explain why and how the house ended up in Loreto. Loreto was no part of the Kingdom of Naples; it belonged to the Papal States. Surely such an important relic would have been kept in Naples itself? Another weak spot in this version of the story is that the rulers of Epirus did not usually call themselves Angelos, preferring the name Komnenos Doukas instead.

History

Although the history of the Holy House is rather murky, it is certain that by the fifteenth century it drew hordes of pilgrims. In fact, so many people came to Loreto to visit the house of Mary that in 1468 a project was launched to build a large basilica over the Holy House, an initiative that would be copied in Assisi with the chapel of Santa Maria degli Angeli used by Saint Franciscus. The man who came up with the idea for a new basilica was Nicolò dall’Aste, the bishop of nearby Recanati. The original architect of the project was probably Marino di Marco Cedrino from Venice. Of much greater fame is one of his successors, Baccio Pontelli (ca. 1450-1492). Pontelli was not just a civil architect, but also a military engineer. He was responsible for the apse of the basilica, among other things, and the apse indeed bears resemblance to a fortress (see the image above). One should keep in mind that the Basilica of the Holy House of Mary is situated fairly close to the Adriatic Sea, which theoretically made it vulnerable to attacks by, for instance, the Ottoman Turks. In 1480-1481 the Turks had already captured the city of Otranto in Southern Italy and slaughtered over 800 of its citizens. The Basilica of the Holy House was therefore going to be built in a way that the complex could be defended.

Apart from Baccio Pontelli many more famous architects were involved in the arduous construction project. The dome of the basilica is for instance a work by Giuliano da Maiano (1432-1490) and Giuliano da Sangallo (ca. 1445-1516), while the apostolic palace, the loggia of the piazza and the twelve side chapels of the church were built in the early sixteenth century by Donato Bramante (1444-1514). Bramante had also been commissioned to build the façade of the basilica, but this part of the building was only realised in 1571-1587 by, consecutively, Giovanni Boccalini (ca. 1520-1580), Giovanni Battista Ghioldi and Lattanzio Ventura. On the façade, an example of early Baroque and made of white stone from Istria, we read a bit of history of the church. The text on the lower cornice reads:

SVB GREGORIO XIII PONT OPT MAX ET PHILIPPO CARD VASTAVILL PROTECTORE AN MD LXXXIII

The text mentions the year 1573 and refers to Pope Gregorius XIII (1572-1585) and his nephew Filippo Guastavillani (1541-1587), cardinal-protector of the basilica. The text on the upper cornice mentions the year 1587, the year of completion of the façade, as well as the name of Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590), Gregorius’ successor. A statue of Pope Sixtus was erected in front of the basilica, a co-production of Antonio Calcagni (1536-1593) and his former student Tiburzio Vergelli (1551-1609). The beautiful fountain in the Piazza della Madonna is a work by Carlo Maderno (1556-1629), made in 1604-1614. Lastly I should mention the bell-tower of the basilica. It reaches a height of over 75 metres and was built between 1750 and 1754 by Luigi Vanvitelli (1700-1773), son of the Dutch painter Caspar van Wittel (1653-1736; the name “Van Wittel” became “Vanvitelli” in Italian).

Interior

Although there is a formal ban on taking pictures inside the basilica, almost everyone ignores it. Most visitors take photos with their smartphones, while some even flaunt sophisticated photo cameras. In other words, the rules are not enforced, and with so many people around, this is probably not even possible. Most artworks in the basilica date from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, for reasons that are actually quite lamentable. In 1797 French troops invaded the Papal States. During their invasion the Basilica of the Holy House of Mary was pillaged. The looted art was moved to the Louvre and other French institutes, and the theft was legalised by the Treaty of Tolentino, signed in February of 1797. Many works were never returned to their original location. The whole basilica was basically redecorated during a large restoration carried out at the end of the nineteenth century under the direction of the architect Giuseppe Sacconi (1854-1905). Catholics from all over the world paid for the decoration of the side chapels, which explains why we find French, American, Slavic (i.e. Croatian) and Polish chapels in the building, to name but a few.

On the vaults of the nave Luca Signorelli (ca. 1450-1523) painted a series of monochrome medallions featuring prophets and other Biblical figures. Between 1610 and 1615, the inside of the dome was decorated with frescoes by Cristoforo Roncalli (ca. 1553-1626), nicknamed Pomarancio. However, his frescoes were largely lost and much later replaced with work by Cesare Maccari (1840-1919). The basilica has four sacristies, which are dedicated to the four evangelists. The sacristy dedicated to Saint Mark (San Marco) was embellished by Melozzo da Forlì (ca. 1438-1494) in the years 1477-1479. His ceiling frescoes of angels and prophets are truly magnificent. Melozzo painted the prophets Jeremiah, David, Amos, Zechariah, Abdias (Obadiah), Ezechiel, Baruch and Isaiah. The other frescoes in this sacristy, featuring among other things the Entry of Christ into Jerusalem, are also worth a closer look. Among the moveable property that the French did not confiscate is a canvas by Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556 or 1557) featuring Saint Christopher flanked by Saints Roch and Sebastian.

The Holy House

For obvious reasons it is also not allowed to take pictures inside the Holy House itself, which can be entered on the north side. A guard at the entrance gives visitors a firm reminder of the ban on photography. I got the impression that most visitors of the house abide by the rules, although there will always be a few who cannot resist the urge to take selfies here as well. As was already mentioned, the house is composed of three walls; the fourth wall was supposedly the back of the so-called Cave of the Annunciation. Here we now find the deeply venerated Madonna of Loreto. The original statue of the Madonna possibly dated from the fifteenth century. It was stolen by the French, but returned in 1801. Unfortunately, the original statue was then lost in a great fire in 1921. Almost immediately the statue was replaced with a copy made of Lebanese cedarwood from a tree in the Vatican gardens. The copy was placed inside the Holy House in 1922.

The three walls of the house are not very high. At the top local bricks have been added. These brick parts, which certainly do not come from Nazareth, were decorated with a number of mediocre frescoes in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Some of the frescoes survived the 1921 fire. Another work of art is a thirteenth-century crucifix, which hangs opposite the Madonna of Loreto. Those who want to get a good idea of the interior of the Holy House should definitely visit the Museo Pontificio della Santa Casa (see below). There we find a scale model of the house by the artist Edgardo Mugnoz (1929-2024). In 2011-2012, Mugnoz, who was born in Recanati, worked on the model for fifteen consecutive months. His model is extremely detailed (see the photos below).

In the sixteenth century, the exterior of the Holy House was completely clad in marble. It was decorated with statues of prophets and sibyls, and with reliefs featuring stories from the life of the Virgin Mary and about the miraculous arrival of the house in Loreto. The marble casing was topped by a balustrade. Of course, this whole project, which took many decades to complete, is not the work of one man. In 1508 the assignment to construct the casing was entrusted to Bramante, while in 1511 Giovanni Cristoforo Romano (1456-1512) was hired to execute the plans. However, both men were soon in their graves. Work on the Holy House then took place in two separate periods. Between 1513 and 1526 Andrea Sansovino (ca. 1467-1529) was in charge, and in 1531-1536 Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (1484-1546), a nephew of Giuliano da Sangallo. Both men led a large team of talented assistants. Work on the Holy House continued until well after 1536, for instance on the statues of the prophets and sibyls.

Museum

The Museo Pontificio della Santa Casa is housed in a wing of the apostolic palace of Loreto. From the first floor of the loggia visitors can enjoy a splendid view across the Piazza della Madonna and across the countryside surrounding Loreto. The museum is not very large, but it is definitely worth a visit. In one of the first rooms one can for instance admire the remaining frescoes by Pomarancio for the dome of the basilica. Here we see the evangelists Mark, Luke and John, as well as Matthew’s angel and a female figure representing Faith. In one of the following rooms we find Mugnoz’s scale model, surrounded by paintings of which a panel painting by Angiolillo Arcuccio (died ca. 1492) caught my attention. The painting represents the miraculous arrival of the House of Mary. Mary and the Christ child have been depicted on a floor below a star-studded vault, among four columns held by angels. Arcuccio’s work is, in other words, a more symbolic depiction of the transport of the house.

The most interesting room is that dedicated to works by the aforementioned Lorenzo Lotto. Lotto was born in Venice, but during several phases of his life he also worked in the Marche (see this previous post). After having already painted his aforementioned Saint Christopher with Saints Roch and Sebastian for the Basilica of the House of Mary around 1533-1535, he settled in Loreto for good in 1552. At the time the painter was already well into his seventies, and he decided to become an oblate of the Holy House. Once he had settled in Loretto, the old Lotto painted two more works, in 1555-1556. These are the Adoration of the Magi and the Presentation at the Temple. The painter placed the two works, together with five previously completed works, in what is now the Spanish chapel of the basilica. In the museum the seven works have also been placed together. The Adoration of the Magi and Presentation at the Temple hang on either side of Christ and the adulterous woman from ca. 1548-1550. Lotto died in Loreto in complete anonymity, and as a consequence it is not clear whether he breathed his last breath in 1556 or 1557.

Polish war cemetery

It is worth the effort to walk around the basilica to admire Baccio Pontelli’s imposing apse at the back. Here a staircase leads down the hill towards a Polish war cemetery, the Cimitero Militare Polacco di Loreto. At the cemetery over one thousand officers and soldiers of the Polish 2^nd Corps, which fought in Italy during World War Two, were buried. The Corps consisted of several tens of thousands of Poles and was commanded by general Władysław Anders (1892-1970). It fought its most famous battles at the abbey of Monte Cassino, which the Poles managed to capture in May of 1944. With their victory, the Poles punched a hole in the German Gustav line, which allowed the Allies to advance on Rome, which they took in June of 1944. The capture of the bombed abbey did cost the 2^nd Corps dearly: 923 men were killed, and there were 2,931 wounded and 345 missing.

After Monte Cassino the Poles contributed to the liberation of the Marche and Emilia-Romagna regions. On 1 July 1944 they were in Loreto and on 21 April 1945 in Bologna. In all of these three places – Monte Cassino, Loreto and Bologna – we find large Polish cemeteries, while there is a fourth in Casamassima in Puglia. The cemetery in Loreto was created between January of 1945 and May of 1946. 1,090 officers and soldiers found their final resting places here. The overwhelming majority of them were Catholics, but we also find the graves of 55 Orthodox Poles, 10 Protestants, 11 Jews and 1 Muslim, Sulejman Rodkiewicz, who was killed on 27 June 1944. The tragic fate of the Polish men who survived the war is that many of them were unable to return to Poland, which had in the meantime become a satellite sate of the Soviet Union. If they had returned, they would have been considered traitors and have faced the consequences. Many Poles subsequently settled in the United Kingdom. One of them was general Anders, who passed away in London in 1970.

Much of the information for this post came from the Bradt travel guide Umbria & the Marche (2021), p. 234-236. Additional information came from the information panels in the basilica and museum, from the informal panels at the war cemetery and from Basilica della Santa Casa – Wikipedia

Note

[1] The Mamluks had already destroyed the church of the Annunciation in 1260. According to a treaty between the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Mamluks, signed in 1272, Christian pilgrims still had access to Nazareth. See Thomas Asbridge, The Crusades, p. 641 and 654.