Pontifical Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Holy Rosary of Pompeii

Festivals and dates

• Supplica to Our Lady of Pompeii (May): 8 May, at noon (Pontificio Santuario di Pompei - Supplica alla Madonna di Pompei)
• Supplica to Our Lady of Pompeii (October): first Sunday of October, at noon (Pontificio Santuario di Pompei - Supplica alla Madonna di Pompei)
• Spring
• Autumn

From the Pompeii valley to the New Pompeii

The shrine grew out of the story of Bartolo Longo, a lawyer born in Latiano, in the province of Brindisi, in 1841. While studying in Naples he drifted away from the faith and even took up spiritualism; after returning to Catholicism, in 1872 he came to the Pompeii valley to manage the estates of Countess Marianna Farnararo De Fusco, whom he later married. There he found his calling to spread the Rosary: he began by teaching the catechism to farmers and restoring the small parish church of the Most Holy Saviour.

On the advice of the bishop of Nola he resolved to build a new church dedicated to the Virgin of the Rosary. The foundation stone was laid on 8 May 1876, and the original building, a Latin cross with a single nave designed by Antonio Cua, was completed by 1891, when Cardinal Raffaele Monaco La Valletta consecrated it. Between 1934 and 1939 the church was enlarged to three naves to hold the growing number of faithful.

A real town grew up around the building site, with workers' housing, a railway station, a hospital and observatories, along with Longo's charitable institutions for orphans and the children of prisoners. The facade, dedicated to Universal Peace, was inaugurated on 5 May 1901. Longo died on 5 October 1926, and in 1928 Pompeii became an independent municipality. Benedict XVI, visiting in 2008, pointed to this refounded town as an example of how faith can renew a whole area.

Sources: Pontificio Santuario di Pompei - Storia e Arte · Pontificio Santuario di Pompei - San Bartolo Longo · Benedetto XVI, 19 ottobre 2008: Santa Messa nella Piazza del Pontificio Santuario di Pompei

The Virgin of the Rosary and Saint Bartolo Longo

The heart of the devotion is the icon of Our Lady of the Rosary: the enthroned Virgin with the Child hands the rosary to Saint Catherine of Siena, while Jesus hands it to Saint Dominic. Longo received it from a Neapolitan nun and had it brought to Pompeii on 13 November 1875 on a manure cart; displayed to the faithful on 13 February 1876, it was linked from that very day to the first miracle attributed to Our Lady of Pompeii. Restored several times, it revealed beneath later repainting the hand of a 17th-century painter of the school of Luca Giordano, and it was crowned by Paul VI in 1965.

The icon is bound up with the Supplica, the prayer Longo composed in 1883 in response to Leo XIII's encyclical on the Rosary. It has been translated into dozens of languages, and the founder called it the «Hour of the world», because communities in many countries recite it at the same moment.

Longo himself is part of the pilgrimage. Beatified by John Paul II on 26 October 1980, he was canonised by Leo XIV on 19 October 2025. Benedict XVI recalled his conversion, from anticlerical activist to apostle of the Rosary, and presented the Rosary as a contemplative prayer within everyone's reach.

Sources: Pontificio Santuario di Pompei - Storia e Arte · Pontificio Santuario di Pompei - San Bartolo Longo · Pontificio Santuario di Pompei - Supplica alla Madonna di Pompei · Benedetto XVI, 19 ottobre 2008: Santa Messa nella Piazza del Pontificio Santuario di Pompei

Basilica, chapels and museum

The two-tier travertine facade with its Papal Loggia is crowned by a statue of the Virgin of the Rosary carved from a single block of Carrara marble. Visitors enter through three bronze doors inaugurated between 2021 and 2024, depicting the history of the shrine, the life of Bartolo Longo and the mysteries of the Rosary. Inside, the highlights are the nave fresco of the Coronation of the Virgin, painted by Vincenzo Paliotti in 1888, and the 57-metre dome with Angelo Landi's fresco of the vision of Saint Dominic.

The icon stands on the marble throne behind the high altar, framed by roundels of the twenty mysteries of the Rosary. From behind the altar one descends to the crypt, with the tombs of Countess De Fusco and other figures from Pompeii's story. In an adjoining chapel, built for the Jubilee of 2000, lie the remains of Saint Bartolo Longo.

The corridors display many ex-votos, and the basement museum holds some two thousand objects given by the faithful, including silverware, porcelain and a large Neapolitan nativity scene. The founder's study and bedroom can also be seen. The 80-metre bell tower by Aristide Leonori has a lift up to a viewing terrace.

Sources: Pontificio Santuario di Pompei - Storia e Arte

The May and October Supplica

The two most important dates of the year are linked to the Supplica, solemnly recited at noon on 8 May and on the first Sunday of October. On both occasions thousands of pilgrims from Italy and abroad gather in front of the shrine's facade to pray it together, as happened on Sunday 4 October 2026.

The prayer was first recited on 14 October 1883, at the October feast, by some twenty thousand pilgrims. On 8 May 1915 it also entered the Vatican, when Benedict XV recited it at noon in the Pauline Chapel, a tradition continued by later popes. Benedict XVI, during his visit of 19 October 2008, also prayed it with the faithful at the end of Mass in the square.

Sources: Pontificio Santuario di Pompei - Supplica alla Madonna di Pompei · Pontificio Santuario di Pompei - Cronaca Supplica 4 ottobre 2026 · Pontificio Santuario di Pompei - San Bartolo Longo · Benedetto XVI, 19 ottobre 2008: Santa Messa nella Piazza del Pontificio Santuario di Pompei

Getting there and planning the visit

The shrine overlooks Piazza Bartolo Longo, in the centre of modern Pompeii, and is served by two Circumvesuviana lines: the Naples-Sorrento line, with Pompei Villa dei Misteri station, and the Naples-Poggiomarino line via Scafati, with Pompei Santuario station. By car, take the Naples-Salerno motorway, using the Pompei Ovest exit when coming from Naples and Pompei Est-Scafati when coming from Salerno.

Organised groups can contact the Rector's Office for pilgrimage booking and reception (Ufficio del Rettorato – Prenotazione e accoglienza pellegrinaggi), presented on the shrine's official website (www.santuario.it). Besides the basilica, a visit can include the chapel of Saint Bartolo Longo, the ex-voto corridors, the museum, the founder's rooms and the Piazzale San Giovanni XXIII with the Stations of the Cross; it is wise to check the shrine's website in advance for services and access.

Sources: Pontificio Santuario di Pompei - Dove Siamo · Pontificio Santuario di Pompei - Pellegrinaggi · Pontificio Santuario di Pompei - Storia e Arte