santuario della santa casa

this church is one of the most beautiful in the centre Italy and if you happen to spend the summer in Sirolo or Numana or Porto Recanati a visit is a must do. there is so much to see and admire!!! the dome is simply great and the little house inside, which is said to be the house of Jesus, is such little gem. after the visit stop by in one of the nice pubs around the square and enjoy a coffee or an icecream.

The Santuario is amazing with its Dome, frescoes, carvings, paintings and marble. You mustn't miss visiting the Holy House of the black Madonna which is inside the Santuario. Even if you are not religious this place makes you feel quite humble. Lots of people stop inside to pray to the Madonna. The story says that this Holy house was transported from the Holy land to the Santuario di Loreto by crusaders.

Definitely is enough interesting to drop by from the motorway which is a couple a minutes away. I went there early in the morning and it was perfect.

We drove from Osimo to visit the village of Loreto, parked the car and walked to the courtyard of this church without knowing anything about it. It is beautiful and so richly decorated. The main attraction of Loreto is the Holy house within the Church and is a popular pilgrimage site of Catholics. It is said tht this is the house where the Virgin Mary lived. I only wish I had read more about it before we made the visit so we could truly appreciate what we had seen in this lovely lovely part of Italy.

Wonderful place to visit. Inside the huge Basilica which actually is a Basilica and a fort, lies the house where the Virgin Mary lived with St. Joseph and Jesus.

Great church, peaceful and amazing. Great views outside in the courtyard and view of the city from high above the town, awesome

I came there during the mass, it was impressive, you can also get sin release there. Lots of sick people come there to pray for blessing and health. So it's a piligrim place for Italians. Santa Maria's home is there and the "Black Maria" at Maria's home . Probably the Temple "Warriors" took it there from Palestine at 1200 ac. There are many, over 20 chapels, devoted to different saints. Worth of visiting, it makes you humble

Impressive basilique and square. The black madonna cannot be photographed but can be visited free. Visitors should be dressed decently but further no limitations. The basilique and sacristy are rich decorated with paintings and woodcarvings. Parking is easy and the village lies beautiful on a hilltop with spectacular view on the surroundings.

Impresseive pelgrim town below Ancona. Beautifull square and basilique. Most impressive was the chapel in the middle of the Basilique which supposedly is made out of the original stones of the birth house of the Virgin Mary

We visited a fantastic place today. Virgin Mary's house from Palestine, moved to Marches 1000 years ago. Very interesting, a big and fantastic Basilica and inside Virgin Mary's house. It felt big and sacred.

This basilica is hypnotic - so much to see and an atmosphere you can feel. A must every day! We have been to Loreto many times and just can't keep away from this magnificent building.

Truly amazing experience, very moving, even for me who is not a christian. Anyway, as with many such things, it is kind of cool to see "the" Loreta.

I'm absolutely not religious in any way myself, but I really appreciated it from an aesthetic point of view; it seems to be the product of the work of a lot of different artists and architects. I visited shortly after Christmas when there was quite a lot of activity going on inside with lots of praying, a baby getting baptised, people going up for confession, which strangely seemed to be quite public. The "santa casa" (holy house) is meant to have belonged to Mary. There was some kind of service going on when we visited, so there were lots of people all crowded inside the tiny space chanting. I'm not sure exactly what was going on, but they seemed to be quite emotional. I see other reviewers have complained about the staff giving them hassle; I wasn't actually aware of any staff myself, but perhaps that's because it was winter. I understand it's an important pilgrimage site and that people come out in force in the summer in the hope of being cured or blessed or something, so it's probably quite a different experience at that time.

This place was great, even before I understood the significance (more on this later). It's a large church on a great piazza with street chalk art. There are 'guards' at the main door to make sure you cover your shoulders and remove your hats. There was mass going on, yet tourists were still allowed to enter. I noticed people giving confession in every nook and cranny of the church. The walls were painted and gorgeous. In the middle is this elaborately carved little room. We went in and everyone looked emotional, but since there was no sign, we had no idea what it was. Two full weeks later I decided to research it, and found out it was Mary's house from Israel. Whoops. I must do my research in the future!Also of note, there's a little bathroom if you go down the road just to the left of the church when facing it. It's free, but they suggest a donation.

Great site of pilgrimage. Always long queues to enter the shrine of the holy house but the queue moves quickly. Respectfully avoid immediately after Mass on sundays (domenica) unless you want this to be part of your worship routine.