Il Santuario della Madonna di Montevergine di Palmariggi

The origin of the Santuario di Montevergine, situated on a small hill just outside Palmariggi, and consequently the origin and the cult for the Blessed Mary, dates back to 1595, year in which Our Lady appeared to a young shepherd boy. He used to graze his flock on Mount Jupiter, which is located about one kilometer from Palmariggi. His name has not been handed down. One day, while he was carving a stick, he lost his knife and, hopeless, he began to look for it among the brambles. Suddenly he was hit by a smell coming from those same brambles, where he saw a strange light. He glimpsed the figure of a lady who, in handing him the boxcutter found, invited him to return to Palmariggi to tell everyone about the incident and to invite them to go to that place. The shepherd obeyed, the parish priest and the whole community rushed to the hill of Montevergine. As soon as they came to the place indicated, they all began to clear the brambles until they saw the entrance to a cave. It was a Byzantine crypt, in which, on the eastern side, stood an altar containing an  half-length fresco of the Madonna with the infant Jesus in her arms.

Following the event of the apparition of the Virgin, a chapel was erected in that place, which took initially the name of Monte della Vergine to be transformed then in the current Montevergine. After several years, the church collapsed. In 1703, on the ruins of the same, works began on rebuilding and restructuring it and ended in 1707 the year in which the temple was dedicated to the Virgin Mary's Assumption into heaven. The temple stands on the same original Byzantine crypt, where, at the same point of the discovery, there is still today a fresco of the Madonna in Byzantine style in half-length and oval shape. The structure is made of local stone and consists of a single rectangular nave, characterized by a conspicuous ledge with three tiers, from a carving kind of architecture.

The sanctuary has a spectacular altar in Baroque style, in which stands a coat of arms. Here is a great picture of the Madonna delle Grazie with, at her foot, an angel holding a palm, the symbol of Palmariggi. Also within the Sanctuary, there is a staircase consisting of 20 steps, leading to an underground crypt containing the Byzantine image of the Great Mother of Jesus.

In 1834, a papier-mache statue was brought into the church representing the Madonna sitting on the mountain with the infant Jesus in her arms. The last restoration of the church dates back to 1995. In front stands a towering obelisk on which a statue of Our Lady of 5 meters high is placed. The image of the Madonna was subjected to a thorough reconstruction in 2000 after being severely damaged by the action of lightning that reduced it into 452 pieces. 

Every year, the festivities in veneration of Our Lady of Montevergine  occur on the 8th of May. The peculiarity of the festivities is evident during the procession, along which the statue of the Virgin is carried on the shoulder exclusively by women, excluding men from the traditional ritual. The place of worship is, as always, a place of pilgrimage tours and also thanks to the presence of numerous Neolithic stones dating back to prehistoric times, the so-called menhirs, which make the area particularly attractive.