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Sanctuary of the Madonna del Pollino

Sanctuary · San Severino Lucano · Basilicata

In brief

Festivals and dates

A sanctuary born of an apparition

The sanctuary's origins rest on tradition: the parish archive of San Severino Lucano holds no records of its beginnings, but everything points to the early eighteenth century. According to popular accounts, between 1725 and 1730 the Virgin appeared to a shepherd grazing his flock on the Pollino, on the very spot where the church stands today. The national catalogue of cultural heritage dates its foundation to the eighteenth century.

On 28 April 1991, during his visit to Basilicata, John Paul II named the Madonna del Pollino among the region's places of Marian devotion. Shortly afterwards, on 16 July 1991, Bishop Rocco Talucci of Tursi-Lagonegro raised the church to a diocesan sanctuary, as a privileged place of devotion and spirituality.

In recent times the devotion has reached a new milestone: on 3 May 2023 Pope Francis blessed the statue with its new crowns in St Peter's Square, and on 3 June 2023 Bishop Vincenzo Carmine Orofino crowned it in San Severino Lucano.

Sources: Santuario della Madonna del Pollino - Italia.it · San Severino Lucano - Santuario Diocesano Maria SS. del Pollino - Diocesi di Tursi-Lagonegro · Catalogo generale dei Beni Culturali - Santuario Diocesano Madonna del Pollino, San Severino Lucano · Catalogo generale dei Beni Culturali - Danza delle cente · Giovanni Paolo II, Regina Coeli, 28 aprile 1991, Basilicata

The Madonna of the Lucanian and Calabrian mountain

The sanctuary is one of the pilgrimage destinations most loved by the people of Basilicata and Calabria: devotees come from both regions, drawn by a devotion that binds the community of San Severino Lucano to the mountain. The statue of the Virgin and Child spends the winter in the town church and the summer on the mountain, and its journeys mark the year for the faithful.

The climb is a shared act of faith. Groups of pilgrims walk the road to the sanctuary carrying the «cente» on their heads, votive structures made of candles, ribbons, sheaves of grain and holy images, which serve as ex-votos. Some make the journey barefoot as a sign of great devotion. The bearers are followed by accordion players and dance with spins and hops to the rhythm of the tarantella, while the other faithful clap to spur on the climb.

In this setting the dance loses its purely recreational character and becomes prayer: the feast turns into devotion.

Sources: Santuario della Madonna del Pollino - Italia.it · San Severino Lucano - Santuario Diocesano Maria SS. del Pollino - Diocesi di Tursi-Lagonegro · Catalogo generale dei Beni Culturali - Danza delle cente

An eagle's nest above the Frido valley

The sanctuary sits on a rocky spur on the northern side of the Pollino, «like an eagle's nest», with views over the whole Frido valley, not far from the river's springs. The view takes in the valley below and the surrounding peaks.

The complex includes the church, some rooms for the clergy and custodians, and the Pilgrim's House. The church venerates the wooden statue of the Virgin with the seated Child, blessing and holding the globe in the left hand. At the sanctuary you can also see a large bronze statue of the Madonna del Pollino, 2.20 metres tall, by the Dutch sculptor Daphné Du Barry.

The sanctuary is part of an Italia.it itinerary through the sanctuaries and landscapes of the Pollino National Park. In the town of San Severino Lucano, the mother church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, built around 1500, and the museums of rural and craft life and of the Pollino's small fauna are worth a visit.

Sources: Santuario della Madonna del Pollino - Italia.it · Visita San Severino Lucano, borgo in Basilicata - Italia.it · San Severino Lucano - Santuario Diocesano Maria SS. del Pollino - Diocesi di Tursi-Lagonegro · Catalogo generale dei Beni Culturali - Santuario Diocesano Madonna del Pollino, San Severino Lucano · Santuari e paesaggi nel Parco Nazionale del Pollino - Italia.it

June, July and September

The main feast unfolds in three stages. On the first Sunday of June the statue is carried on the shoulders of the faithful from the mother church of San Severino Lucano to the sanctuary on the mountain, where it stays for the whole summer.

In early July the feast on the mountain is celebrated: the national cultural heritage catalogue places it on the Friday and Saturday before the first Sunday of the month, with a procession with the statue of the Virgin after Mass on Saturday morning; the catalogue entry on the dance of the cente mentions pilgrimages on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the first week of July.

On the second Sunday of September the statue makes the reverse journey and returns to the town, in what sources describe as «eighteen kilometres of songs and prayers». All these pilgrimages feature the cente carried on the head, accordion music and the devotional tarantella.

Sources: Santuario della Madonna del Pollino - Italia.it · Catalogo generale dei Beni Culturali - Santuario Diocesano Madonna del Pollino, San Severino Lucano · Catalogo generale dei Beni Culturali - Danza delle cente

Going up to the sanctuary

The sanctuary is at the locality of Madonna di Pollino, in the hamlet of Mezzana, San Severino Lucano, in the province of Potenza. You reach the hamlet of Mezzana Frido and from there continue on foot for about 2.5 kilometres, or by car along a steep, winding paved road, following the signs for the sanctuary. The same route can also be cycled.

The statue of the Virgin is at the sanctuary only in the summer months, from June to September; the rest of the year it is kept in the church of San Severino Lucano. Next to the church, the Pilgrim's House is part of the sanctuary complex.

Sources: Santuario della Madonna del Pollino - Italia.it · San Severino Lucano - Santuario Diocesano Maria SS. del Pollino - Diocesi di Tursi-Lagonegro · Santuari e paesaggi nel Parco Nazionale del Pollino - Italia.it

Walks that reach it

Basilian Way

Lauria (Basilicata); the Calabrian section begins at Rocca Imperiale → Reggio Calabria · Over 1,560 km according to the official site's home page; other pages of the same site say over 1,500 km, while italia.it gives an earlier figure of 1,390 km. · 83 numbered stages on the official site, including variants and "wild" stages; the general introduction on the same page still says 81, and italia.it gives 73.

Calabria, Basilicata

Sentiero Italia CAI (sections in Abruzzo, Molise, Puglia, Basilicata, Campania and Calabria)

Reggio Calabria, where the trail returns to the mainland (stage SI U01) → Campotosto in Abruzzo (stage SI P13), from where the national trail continues towards Amatrice and beyond · About 8,000 km for the whole national trail according to the official project page (the FAQ gives 7,900–8,000 km). The CAI does not state the combined length of the sections in these six regions; for Calabria alone italia.it gives 654 km. · For the whole trail the FAQ speaks of more than 500 stages, while the project page mentions almost 400 stage points. The stage-card list shows 120 cards with codes P to U, variants included (R04 is missing). For Calabria italia.it gives 34 stages, while the CAI list has 32 Calabrian cards (U01–U32).

Calabria, Basilicata, Campania, Puglia, Molise, Abruzzo

The place

Sources