Santa Casa di Loreto

Parliamo, quasi naturalmente, - ma è importante ricordarlo - di un patrimonio che è fonte di vita, con poche altre risorse, l'ambiente, l'artigianato per la storica e mitica ma assai fragile cittadina. Che a sua volta costituisce, com'è noto, fonte vitale per l'intera economia turistica del Trapanese. In funzione di tali non secondari interessi queste righe vogliono, da un lato, dare notizia di un meritorio progetto, in corso di attuazione dal 2013, per il recupero pieno e fruitivo di un piccolo ma importante monumento settecentesco sinora sconosciuto ai più; dall'altro auspicare che i relativi lavori giungano, ormai a breve, alla loro conclusione. Si tratta, in concreto, di un piccolo ambiente, una cappella di poche decine di metri quadri, che la Fede dei nostri padri realizzò, dal 1740 in poi, come "Casa Santa o di Sales" (Castronovo) per esercizi spirituali "a sommossa del famoso missionario gesuita Michelangelo Lentini... a costa della chiesa di S. Cataldo, lontano dai cittadini rumori". Ne sosteneva le spese "Giovanni Curatolo, vero Prete, detto per antonomasia Il Buono". Tra la fine dello scorso secolo e il primo decennio del nostro, il piccolo ambiente religioso rimase affidato ad una piccola comunità di Suore (Le Beatitudini), dopo il cui trasferimento, però se ne dovette constatare un notevole degrado, specie del prezioso affresco della volta, a causa di condense ed infiltrazioni idriche.

Blaženi plač (Elegia; Divoto pianto) jedino je za života tiskano djelo Frana Kr-ste Frankopana. U tom je pjesničkom sastavku opjevana legenda iz 13. stoljeća o prijenosu Kućice svete obitelji iz Palestine na Trsat i njezin odlazak s Trsata u Loreto. Blaženi plač je napisan na latinskom jeziku, a središnji mu je dio Elegia koja se sastoji od 143 elegijska distiha i strukturirana je prema klasičnom, huma-nističkom modelu elegije. To je žalobna elegija u kojoj se osim biblijskih i antičkih reminiscencija nalaze i pojedine parafraze iz klasične rimske literature, npr. iz Eneide Vergilija Publija Marona te iz elegija žalobnica Tužaljke Publija Ovidija Nazona. S obzirom na motivsko-tematske elemente Elegija je neolatinski odvjetak marijinske tradicije Pohvalâ Gospi.

The study, developed in three parts, starting from the "corridor of Nazareth", is a contribution to try to formulate hypotheses concerning the place that may have hosted, albeit briefly, the Shroud and, subsequently or at the same time, the holy house of Theotokos. This research aims to reconstruct the ancient "Way of Angels", located between the Duchy of Athens, the Thessaly and the Epirus, one of the four itineraries-the third, in chronological order-followed by the transport of the holy house before his arrival in Loreto. It also aims to provide information on the disputed passage of the Shroud to Athens, highlighting the fundamental elements that unite the two relics (the Shroud and the holy house of Loreto). The study provides new evaluation terms in order to encourage the reflection and reconstruction of possible voids of history, to learn about the ancient fortresses of Thessaly, through the analysis and interpretation of the ancient symbols present in the monasteries and byzantine churches of the 12th and 13th centuries, milestones in the epic of the imperial family of the Comnenos and, later, of the Angel Ducas Comneno.

Los jesuitas, mayormente que el resto del clero, tomaron como propia la devoción por la Virgen de Loreto y la difundieron por el mundo. En su provincia del Paraguay, el P. Diego de Torres Bollo, su primer provincial, fue quien la popularizó, luego de su paso por el santuario. Lo hizo en forma efectiva, sugiriendo a todos los misioneros que en cada poblado indígena se levante una réplica de la capilla lauretana, como también en los colegios de las ciudades. Trajo un plano, además de unas estrellas y astillas como reliquias.  Pero  el  procesode  expolio  y  abandono  surgido  después  de  la expulsión  solo  dejó  intacto  un  único  edificio  ubicado  en  Santa  Rosa (Paraguay). Nuestra intención es dar a conocer los motivos que impulsaron al  provincial  a  tomar  estas  decisiones,  que  dejaron  un  sinnúmero  de testimonios. Por ello describimos y analizamos críticamente el caso ubicado en el antiguo poblado guaraní de Santa Rosa, por ser actualmente el único existente,  con  una  serie  importante  de  esculturas  y  sobre  todo  pinturas interiores  en  sus  muros  que  representan  el  Traslado  y  los  momentos previos al nacimiento de Jesús y su vida en la Casa.

Dopo la breve rassegna delle pubblicazioni ‘ufficiali’ sulla storia della S. Casa di Loreto il contributo esamina una tipologia testuale e libraria di ampia diffusione che contribuì a radicare e propagare il culto mariano: l’Oratione alla Madonna di Loreto, preghiera a Maria recitata dai pellegrini. Per le caratteristiche di manufatti minori, privi di pregio editoriale e destinati all’uso intenso e immediato, le stampe hanno conosciuto un tasso di mortalità altissimo e sono sopravvissute in pochissimi esemplari. Si trascrive e riproduce l’edizione di Rimini, Giovanni Simbeni, 1598.

After a brief review of the 'official' publications on the history of Loreto's S. Casa, the essay examines a widely spread textual and editorial typology that contributed to rooting and propagating Marian worship: the Oratione to the Madonna of Loreto, prayer to Mary recited by pilgrims. For the characteristics of minor artefacts, devoid of editorial value and intended for intense and immediate use, the prints have experienced a very high mortality rate and have survived in very few copies. It is transcribed and reproduced the Rimini edition, Giovanni Simbeni, 1598.

Tra i primi esiti dell’attività letteraria del Dati si iscrive la "Historia di sancta Maria de Loreto"", nota anche con il titolo "Translatione della sacrata chamera di nostra Donna di Nazaret in Italia apresso alla città di Richanati", che compare nel colophon seguito dalla rivendicazione autoriale: «composta in versi vulgari per misser G<i>uliano Dati. D. F. penitentiere di Papa in Laterano». L’illustrazione xilografica, da lui ideata ed esibita nella pagina del titolo, con la rappresentazione dell’intero ciclo agiografico della traslazione della camera della Vergine, costituisce la prima narrazione visiva ad oggi nota dell’itinerario seguito dalla Santa Casa.

L’articolo ha come oggetto la riscoperta delle radici del culto lauretano a
Cremona, con particolare riferimento alle modalità di circolazione dei prototipi
iconografici durante la Controriforma.
Purtroppo la percezione del vivace e multiforme panorama lauretano di un
tempo è oggi vanificata dalla irreperabile perdita o dalla decontestualizzazione
di molte testimonianze artistiche; per questi motivi si è gradualmente persa
memoria tanto della presenza dei dipinti quanto dell’importanza rivestita dal
culto della Madonna di Loreto a Cremona nella seconda metà del XVI secolo.
In particolare, viene analizzata l’opera di Bernardino Campi Madonna di Loreto,
pala d’altare realizzata nel 1572 per la chiesa di San Francesco dei Padri
Minori Conventuali ed ora conservata nell’Accademia di Belle Arti di Lovere.

Lo studio delle vicende che hanno caratterizzato l’origine e le modalità di ricezione
del culto della Madonna di Loreto in area cremonese costituisce un argomento affascinante
e di notevole interesse storico, benché complesso a causa della frammentarietà
o della perdita delle fonti documentarie e iconografiche che ne hanno testimoniato
lo sviluppo nel corso dei secoli. La prima fase di affermazione della devozione,
compresa fra Quattro e Cinquecento, è stata riportata alla luce solo di recente e contempla
numerose zone d’ombra, che la prima parte del contributo tenta di portare
parzialmente alla luce. In un’ottica di riscoperta del patrimonio artistico locale, l’attenzione
si è focalizzata sulla statua lignea raffigurante la Madonna di Loreto – detta
anche Madonna Nera − oggi conservata presso la chiesa di San Girolamo, opera che
merita di essere indagata con maggiore attenzione di quanto non sia stato fatto finora
in quanto rara testimonianza dell’antica devozione cremonese, illustre precedente, e
per molti versi anticipatrice, del celebre culto lauretano di Sant’Abbondio. In assenza
di una specifica campagna diagnostica, le informazioni di carattere storico-documentario
reperite nella seconda parte della ricerca costituiscono un punto di riferimento
importante per affrontare l’analisi stilistica dell’opera e poter avanzare un’ipotesi attributiva
plausibile.

Molte le tracce storiche e artistiche lasciate in paese
dall’arcivescovo di Benevento, abate di Santa Sofia, poi papa Benedetto XIII.
Specie nel “suo” convento: lapidi, stemmi, lunette, chiostro, pale d’altare, dediche.
Mancava la traccia sovrana: un ritratto. E invece c’era e, per fortuna, c’è.

This study aims to reconstruct the story of the gift sent by Anna of Austria, Louis XIV’s mother, to the Virgin of Loreto, the Angel with the Child by Jacques Sarazin, lead in Italy in 1643, as a thank you for her late motherhood. The events involving the sumptuous gift are an expression of the variable relationships between the Church of Rome and the court of Paris.
In the period of religious conflicts and after the war of the Thirty Years (1618-1648), devotion to the Madonna of Loreto appears to European sovereigns adequate to demonstrate their adhesion to Catholicism; consciousness of the role of religion as instrumentum Regni feeds a cult that takes on continental resonance.
The study focuses on the characteristics of the Angel with the Child by Jacques Sarazin; on the reception ceremonies in Palazzo Mazzarino in Rome and in the city of Loreto; on the devotions to the Virgin in Loreto and in the Parisian convent of Val-de-Grâce; on the new orientations of the politics towards the Church pursued by Louis XIV; on the fate of the Sarazin’s Angel with the Child in the eighteenth century, before and after the expedition of Napoleon Bonaparte to Italy.

La storia artistica del santuario di Loreto ebbe una svolta fra il 1468 e il 1469. Per iniziativa del vescovo di Re-canati e Macerata Niccolò delle Aste, viene infatti avviata la costruzione di una grande basilica destinata a inglobare la "Santa Casa", un piccolo edificio di mattoni contenente un'immagine della Madonna col Bambino ritenuta mi-racolosa, oggetto fin dal '300 di una crescente devozione popolare. Dopo la morte di Niccolò, nell' ottobre 1469, la fabbrica passa sotto la diretta responsabilità pontificia, per interessamento di Paolo II. Animato anche da una personale devozione verso Loreto, 1 il pontefice nomina a capo della diocesi recanatese il veneziano Francesco Mo-rosini, vescovo di Parenzo, incaricandolo di sovrintendere alla costruzione. Egli inoltre concede importanti indul-genze alla chiesa, parlando per la prima volta, in un do-cumento del febbraio 1470, di un trasporto da parte degli angeli dell'immagine di culto, un'idea che di lì a breve si sarebbe affermata, modificata, nella cosiddetta «leggenda lauretana»: la tradizione, cioè, del trasporto miracoloso da parte degli angeli della casa della Vergine da Naza-reth a Loreto. 2 Proprio nel marzo del 1469 veniva istituita nella villa di Santa Maria di Loreto una confraternita di schiavoni dedicata alla Madonna, che nel 1497 avrebbe ottenuto un altare in chiesa dedicato alla Vergine e a San Girolamo, patrono della "nazione" illirica. 3 Si trattava di una fra le molte fraternitates "nazionali", formate da soli active as masters at the building site of the Basilica of Loreto and have been traditionally considered as originating from "Dalmatia". However, an in-depth analysis of the sources concerning the two masters, including some newly discovered documents, have made it possible to prove different origins for both: Venetian for Cedrino and Lombard for Amorosi. Notwithstanding these results, Loreto can still be considered as an "Illyrian" building site: in fact, this sanctuary was one of the major engines of artistic contacts between the two shores of the Adriatic. These contacts concerned the transport and working of Istrian stone for the church and the apostolic palace, which involved a great number of architects, stonemasons, sculptors, and ship owners from the mid-15 th until the end of the 16 th century. In Rovinj, suitable supervisors and trusted stonemasons were in charge of the first selection and the first working of the stone. For the transport from Rovinj to Loreto, the architect of the Holy House, Giovanni Boccalini from Carpi (1555-1580) had a specially built ship for transporting wheat, oil, and other agricultural products of the Holy House to be sold in Istria in exchange for stone, which is a typical entrepreneurial strategy.

The Museo Pinacoteca della Santa Casa di Loreto holds a musical ex voto, the work
of a local painter of the second half of the sixteenth century, that depicts in the upper
section a pilgrim at the feet of the Virgin and in the lower section the musical
notation of a «Canon quinquae quintus» on the invocation Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis.
The picture has been for nearly three centuries at the center of a debate among
musicologists on the identification of the author — for whom the name of the
Florentine musician Giovanni Animuccia was suggested — and on the solution of
the canon, which appears incomplete. The coat of arms, which was not seriously
considered by scholars, reveals that the composer is Orlando di Lasso, who was a
pilgrim in Loreto in 1585: the iconography of the musician in old age also corresponds
with the Loreto depiction. Compared with the published works of Orlando,
the ex voto offers a composition unknown until now. Together with a contemporaneous
letter of the Flemish musician, the painting sheds new light on the Loreto
devotion of Lasso and on the presence of his works in the Archivio Musicale della
Santa Casa. The solution to the problem of attribution opens further questions
about a second musical ex voto from the second half of the sixteenth century, also
conserved in the Museo Pinacoteca.

Hacia el siglo XVIII en el Bajío novohispano se produjo un auge económico derivado, en suma, por el flujo de personas a las zonas mineras lo cual trajo consigo el aumento en la producción de cereales, de la industria ganadera y de textiles. Este fulgor se tradujo en proyectos para renovar la infraestructura de la región; se inició la traza de caminos, la construcción del sistema hidráulico y la remodelación urbana. Es importante puntualizar que el costo de estas mejoras fue sufragado por las acaudaladas familias que mudaron su residencia a estas renovadas ciudades y villas. Además del arribo de bienes y fortunas, los nuevos linajes llevaron consigo elementos culturales y religiosos que repercutieron en la región. Un ejemplo de esto es la devoción a la virgen de Loreto, que contó con el amparo del conde Manuel Tomás de la Canal Bueno de Baeza, caballero de la Orden de Calatrava; del religioso Juan Caballero y Ocio y de la Congregación del Oratorio de San Felipe Neri quienes no escatimaron fortuna ni empeño para establecer y difundir el culto a la lauretana en la región abajeña y en territorios circunvecinos.

The imitations of Our lady of Loreto were not too popular in Lithuania; however, they were closely related with one of the forms of religious expression – imitation of pictures and sacred places famous for their miracles. The imitations of this image first appeared and gained spread in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania thanks to the pilgrims going to Loreto. The first imitations of the Chapel of Loreto were built in the 4th–5th decades of the 16th century. By the end of the 17th century, the scale of construction of such chapels decreased. In the 18th century, the churches of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were mainly decorated with altars bearing the title of Our Lady of Loreto. Among the monastic orders, Jesuits were the first to spread the cult of Our Lady of Loreto in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but the main promoters of this cult were Bernardine and Franciscan monks. In addition to the above-mentioned Bernardine and Franciscan churches, the chapels and images of Our Lady of Loreto could be found in the Dominican churches in Agluona, Danilovichi, Astrava, and Pasienė. The imitations of Our Lady of Loreto illustrate the classical opinion that the copies of a miraculous image acquire the features of the original. Among 34 known copies of the image in the churches of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 13 were famous for their miracles and graces. The clothing of the images of Our Lay of Loreto in robes of natural fibres mark the sources of the tradition of sculpture clothing in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the majority of cases the sculptures of Our Lady of Loreto were clothed in robes made from expensive and sumptuously decorated textiles. These robes were considered an important part of the church inventory and were held in special cases.

This paper presents a small part of the pilgrimages undertaken by Croats during the 18 th century across the Adriatic Sea to Loreto. The pilgrimages are described as a sui generis phenomenon of all human and religious societies. The history of the Catholic pilgrimage is analyzed through the perspective of common roots with Judaism and Islam, and the subsequent differentiation from other Christian confessions. Relations of the Croats with overseas territories since the 14 th century are described, as well as their settlement in the hinterland of Ancona: Recanati and Loreto. The story of the Shrine of the Our Lady of Loreto is presented, the ties with the Croats settled there, and the foundation of a special seminary for Croats in 1580: the Illyrian College. During the review of the 4,890 documentary sources of volume I of the Croatian Maritime Regesta, a smaller segment of sources was found from the State Archive of Venice on the subject of pilgrimages. These sources list 44 pilgrimages from various locations on the Croatian coast. The types of ships they traveled on, the origin of the passengers, their number, organization in groups, the time of pilgrimage and the time of the year in which they occurred are analyzed. The most numerous pilgrims are from Lošinj (Lussino), followed by Cres (Cherso), Dugi Otok (Isola Lunga), Rovinj (Rovigno), Labin (Albona), Korčula (Curzola), Zadar (Zara) and Vis (Lissa). This work is a contribution to the study of the links between the two sides of the Adriatic in the 18th century, which requires further publication and analysis of documentary sources.
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Keywords: Loreto; pilgrimage; Croats; maritime; Illyrian College

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Hrvatska hodočašća u Loreto iz 5000 dokumenata Hrvatskih pomorskih regesta 18. stoljeća - I. svezak
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Ovim radom prikazan je manji dio hodočašća prekomorskim putem u Loreto, kamo su Hrvati potkraj 18. stoljeća često hodočastili. Hodočašće je predstavljeno kao pojava sui generis u svim ljudskim društvima i u različitim religijama. Analizirana je povijest katoličkoga hodočašća kroz prizmu zajedničkih korijena sa židovstvom i islamom te naknadna diferencijacija od ostalih kršćanskih vjeroispovijedi. Izneseni su podaci o vezama Hrvata s prekomorskim zemljama još od 14. stoljeća te o njihovu naseljavanju područja u zaleđu Ancone: Recanatija i Loreta. Predstavljena je povijest svetišta Majke Božje Loretske te veze s tamošnjim Hrvatima, zatim osnivanje posebnog seminara za Hrvate 1580. godine: Ilirskoga kolegija. Pregledom 4890 izvornih vrela iz I. sveska Hrvatskih pomorskih regesta pronađen je uži segment fondova Venecijanskoga državnog arhiva gdje možemo naći hodočašća. Ondje su navedena 44 hodočašća koja su krenula s hrvatske obale. Analizirane su vrste brodova kojima su hodočasnici putovali, podrijetlo i brojnost putnika, organiziranost u grupama, vrijeme ostanka na hodočašću i doba godine u kojem su hodočastili. Najbrojnijima su se pokazali hodočasnici s Lošinja, zatim s Cresa, Dugog otoka, iz Rovinja, Labina, Korčule, Zadra i s Visa.
Ovaj je rad shvaćen kao prilog proučavanju veza među dvjema jadranskim obalama u 18. stoljeću, što zahtijeva daljnje objavljivanje i analizu izvornih vrela.
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Ključne riječi: Loreto; hodočašće; Hrvati, pomorstvo; Ilirski kolegij

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Pellegrinaggi croati a Loreto dai 5.000 documenti dei “Regesti Marittimi Croati” vol. I.
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Nell'articolo è rappresentata una piccola parte dei pellegrinaggi intrapresi dai Croati alla fine del XVIII secolo per via marittima a Loreto. Viene descritto il pellegrinaggio come un fenomeno sui generis di tutte le società umane e religiose. È analizzata la storia del pellegrinaggio cristiano attraverso la prospettiva delle radici comuni con l'ebraismo e l'islam, e la successiva differenziazione dalle altre confessioni cristiane. Vengono descritti i rapporti dei Croati con i territori d’oltremare sin dal XIV secolo quando si stabiliscono nel territorio dell’entroterra anconetano: a Recanati e a Loreto. Viene rappresentata la storia del Santuario della Madonna di Loreto, i legami con i Croati ivi stabilitisi, e la fondazione nel 1580 di uno speciale seminario per Croati: il Collegio Illirico. Nel passare in rassegna le 4890 fonti documentarie del I. vol. dei Regesti Marittimi Croati è stato trovato un segmento più ristretto di fonti dell’Archivio di Stato di Venezia riguardante i pellegrinaggi. In esso vengono nominati 44 pellegrinaggi da varie località della costa croata. Vengono analizzati i tipi di navi sui cui hanno viaggiato, l’origine dei passeggeri, il loro numero, l’organizzazione in gruppi, il tempo di permanenza in pellegrinaggio ed il periodo dell’anno in cui questi sono avvenuti. I più numerosi si sono dimostrati i pellegrini da Lošinj (Lussino), poi da Cres (Cherso), Dugi Otok (Isola Lunga), Rovinj (Rovigno), Labin (Albona), Korčula (Curzola), Zadar (Zara) e Vis (Lissa).
Quest’articolo è appena un piccolo contributo allo studio dei legami fra le due sponde dell’Adriatico nel XVIII sec. che necessita di un’ulteriore pubblicazione di fonti documentarie.
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Parole chiave: Loreto, pellegrinaggio, Croati, marittimo, nave, Collegio Illirico, Ancona, Recanati.

This paper looks at the circumstances in which Ivan Crnojević, a fifteenth-century ruler of Zeta (historic region in present-day Montenegro), made a vow to the Virgin in a famous pilgrimage shrine, the Santa Casa in Loreto (Italy), where he was in exile fleeing another Ottoman offensive. The focus of the paper is on a few issues which need to be reexamined in order to understand Ivan' s vow against a broader background. His act is analyzed in the context of the symbolic role that the Virgin of Loreto played as a powerful antiturca protectress. On the other hand, much attention is paid to the institutional organization of Slavs (Schiavoni) who found refuge in Loreto and nearby towns, which may serve as a basis for a more comprehensive understanding of the process of religious and social adjustment of Orthodox Slav refugees to their new Catholic environment.

The paper discusses the legendary transfer of the Holy House from Nazareth (Palestine), via Croatian coast to the town of Loreto in Italy. According to legend, the transfer took place at the end of the 13th century, and it was depicted on several maps, including the cartographic representation from Loreto called Descriptio translationis Sanctæ Domus Beatissimæ Virginis e Nazareth in Dalmatiam et inde Lavretv[m] which was probably made at the end of the 16th century. Regardless of the authenticity of the relic, the fact that the content of the legendary transfer was depicted cartographically on one of the most valuable works of art of the Loreto Marian shrine witnesses the need for spatial identification of imaginary geography, but it also indicates the importance and influence of cartography of that time, because maps were important sources of spatial data and means of geographic expression.

The paper discusses the legendary transfer of the Holy House from Nazareth (Palestine), via Croatian coast to the town of Loreto in Italy. According to legend, the transfer took place at the end of the 13th century, and it was depicted on several maps, including the cartographic representation from Loreto called Descriptio translationis Sanctae Domus Beatissimae Virginis e Nazareth in Dalmati-am et inde Lavretv[m] which was probably made at the end of the 16th century. Regardless of the authenticity of the relic, the fact that the content of the legendary transfer was depicted cartographically on one of the most valuable works of art of the Loreto Marian shrine witnesses the need for spatial identification of imaginary geography, but it also indicates the importance and influence of cartography of that time, because maps were important sources of spatial data and means of geographic expression.

Nel saggio vengono analizzati i pellegrinaggi croati via mare nel Settecento verso Loreto e Assisi. Viene data una breve storia della ricerca del sacro e del suo significato dalle ierofanie preistoriche al periodo moderno ; rappresentati i pellegrinaggi ai luoghi di ierofanie prima e teofanie dopo durante il periodo storico in due religioni monoteiste: il giudaismo, il cristianesimo. Il mare e i mari sono spazi solcati da mercanti, viaggiatori e pellegrini di ogni sorta. Seguendo i cambiamenti dal periodo storico, cioè l’antichità, attraverso il Medioevo fino all’Età moderna, i mari si sono rivelati uno dei modi di viaggiare più efficaci per i pellegrini. In base all’analisi di 16.000 documenti dei Regesti marittimi croati I-III vol. troviamo la testimonianza riguardo a 2.513 pellegrini, cioè 303 pellegrinaggi per lo più grandi e organizzati da una sponda all’altra dell’Adriatico, dall’Istria alle Bocche di Cattaro verso i santuari della Madonna di Loreto e San Francesco d’Assisi. Si tratta di due indiscutibili topos cattolici croati che dimostrano come il pellegrinaggio sia stato un modo di cercare e ringraziare il divino che si perpetua dalle prime tradizioni, antiche decine di migliaia di anni, e dimostrano una unica pietas religiosa europea le cui radici risalgono a un passato cui i Croati hanno saputo innestarsi mediante la tradizione cristiana prima e, dopo la Riforma, quella cattolica.

Following the custom of the “white trains” that led the sick towards the main Marian sanctuaries such as Lourdes and Loreto, in 1943 the Vatican had commissioned Vittorio De Sica to direct a film dealing with pilgrims’ journeys to the Lauretan basilica. The film, entitled La porta del cielo (The Gate of Heaven), due to the war events had to be changed,
especially in regards to the scenes to be shot in Loreto, so the Santa Casa was reproduced within the extra-territorial perimeter of San Paolo fuori le Mura. Filming, which began on March 1st 1944, was thus carried out entirely in Rome and ends shortly after the entry of American troops into the city on June 4th. Here De Sica anticipates the themes of neorealism, developed after the war with Cesare Zavattini, entering the daily problems of the sick (and of their companions) travelling towards the sanctuary. The production includes over four hundred people in the registers of extras, including Jews, political dissidents, draft dodgers,
who thus managed to avoid round-ups and, after the arrival of the Americans, return to embrace the city again.

The historiography regarding the Turin Shroud and the Holy House of Loreto has benefited, the last few years, from the study of some Byzantine documents pertaining to the so-called Chartularium Culisanense, the diplomatic codex of the Constantinian Angelican Order of the Holy Wisdom (Saint Sophia), that is said to have been instituted in 1290 by Nicephorus I Comnenus Ducas, despot of Epirus. An examination of the surviving testimonies reveals that the abovementioned Constantinian Order is as false as some of the documents of the Chartularium. This fact raises heavy doubts about the historical reconstructions based on these documents.

International conference (June 30 - July 1, 2022), held at the Courtauld Institute of Art, co-organized by Erin Giffin, Matteo Chirumbolo, and Antongiulio Sorgini.

Presentation abstract: Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Santa Casa di Loreto was recreated in communities throughout the Catholic world. Major trends in iconography, location, and cult use reveal associations that crossed communal and territorial boundaries. Consequently, these connections elucidate the cultural and religious value of the sacred structure through its many replicas. This presentation will explore some of those apparent connections discovered in my ongoing ArcGIS digital humanities initiative, entitled “Replicas of the Santa Casa di Loreto: Networks of Geographic Translation.” By tracking these trends, modern scholarship can better examine interrelationships wrought between early modern Catholic communities, and ultimately pose new questions about the cultural resonance of devotional replicas.

Access the proceedings of the conference on The Courtauld Institute of Art's YouTube page at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwzRO-e5y3pKi_dIjYWj54_YpK02OHdNC

Scolpire nel Rinascimento: un'arte per (com)muovere Milano CASTELLO SFORZESCO Sala della Balla Giovedì 30 settembre 2021 CONVEGNO

presentation abstract: The Santa Casa di Loreto is atypical among renaissance religious objects because of its status as biblical architecture and relic. The encompassing basilica at Loreto recast the edifice as a devotional sculpture. Its marble revetment, appended to the cult object across the first half of the sixteenth century, aligns the architectural edifice with contemporary sculpted religious representations in Florence and Rome, like Francesco da Sangallo’s Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Jacopo Sansovino’s Madonna del Parto. The classicizing architecture, sculptural relief, and three-dimensional figures across its surfaces create an interactive plane composed with hallmarks of contemporary humanist design. Through acts of circumambulation, touch, and votive adornment, the Santa Casa bridged medieval traditions of devotion with the marble foci of the renaissance. This revetment effectively projected the miraculous narrative of the Santa Casa, moving viewers to interact with the Virgin’s home.

ITA: Nell'ambito della serata informativa dedicata ad una serie di restauri eseguiti a Predazzo terrò un comunicazione intitolata: " Novità sulla storia della chiesa di san Nicolò a Predazzo derivanti dal restauro dell'altare dedicato a Sant'Antonio ".

ENG: As part of the information evening dedicated to a series of restorations carried out in Predazzo I will hold a communication entitled: " News on the history of the church of San Nicolò in Predazzo deriving from the restoration of the altar ".
dedicated to Sant'Antonio.

The Holy House of the Virgin is a relic in search of adoration. Throughout the early modern period, pilgrims flocked to the eastern Italian region of Le Marche to commune with the sacred site of the Annunciation. As contemporary prints, paintings and carvings attest, the Santa Casa flew from the Holy Land with the assistance of angels, selecting the summit of Loreto in 1295. Visitors confirmed the miraculous structure's transport through sight and touch, placing palms against stone as they circumgenuflected and entered the building. Commensurately, throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, replicas of the Santa Casa appeared in European communities from Sicily to Poland. Each respective copy recreates the Santa Casa interior in dimension, material, and decoration, as if the Holy House traversed the countryside in acknowledgment of local devotion. While the interiors of numerous replicas pay homage to the original, exteriors of each Holy House differ dramatically. For example, when the community at Brescia sought to recreate the Holy House at the heart of their city, the external façade of the building became invested with a local miracle-working fresco. The conflation of both Marys— the Madonna di Loreto with the Madonna della Carità—reframes the structure into a devotional locus of decidedly regional value, even as the building signals its structural prototype. The Holy House and its many copies reinforce an integral narrative component of the sacred structure: flight. As such, the Santa Casa behaves as both a destination and a proselytizing element, disseminating devotion of the Virgin across early modern Europe. The mobility of the Santa Casa effectively translates biblical space into new communities. In this respect, the Santa Casa epitomizes the historiographic " spatial turn " of contemporary, art historical discourse. Investigations of the Santa Casa's iconic mobility reveal the diversity of regionalisms appended to Marian cult worship. This paper addresses the phenomenon of replication wherein the devotional relic itself processes, assimilating into each respective community to sacralize the landscape. The Santa Casa assumes local identity through idiosyncrasies of decoration, devotion and display to convey regional approaches to Marian adoration, even as they reinforce the miraculous Loretan original.

Una ricerca storica di Haris Koudounas sulla Santa Casa e gli Angelo Comneno di Epiro e di Tessaglia. L'articolo scritto da P. Giuseppe Santarelli direttore responsabile ed editoriale del mensile "Il messaggio della SANTA CASA - LORETO (Delegazione Pontificia - Congregazione Universale della Santa Casa di Loreto) Pubblicato  sul n. 8 settembre / Ottobre 2014

This dissertation describes pilgrimages and pilgrims who traveled from the Croatian coast to Loreto and Assisi in the 18th century. The origin of passengers, their number and organization into groups, the time they spent on the pilgrimage, as well as the seasons and vessels they traveled on have been analyzed based on 16,000 documents of the Croatian Maritime Regesta of the 18th century / Regesti marittimi croati del Settecento vol. I-III. Particular attention will also be given to small entrepreneurs, captains and shipowners, Croats and Italians, who have made these pilgrimages possible. The first two volumes of the maritime regesta were published in Padua (1985 and 1993), while the third one, that the author of this work had edited for print, was issued last year as an edition of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Split (2017). The documents pertaining to pilgrimages have been singled out and processed using a computer program that provides for faster analytics and facilitates further work.
The dissertation describes the pilgrims' preparation for such an important journey, which transforms from a personal decision into a choral act of a broader community that travels and prays. 
In addition to the classical historiographic approach and consideration given to the achievements of social, demographic and maritime history, the analysis of sources and coverage of the topic are also approached from the point of view of anthropology of the sacred, which indicates the sources and essence of the quest for the sacred and the divine since prehistoric times. A religious experience happens in a certain cultural and historical environment: one cannot reduce it solely to the historical, social or psychological dimension, or rule out in advance any transcendental perspective. A historian must not withdraw before those experiences but rather define clearly the role of man woven into the very source of the religious phenomenon.
The documents are not mere records of the arrivals and departures of vessels from ports, of the transport of goods, paid taxes and people’s journeys. They testify to the primordial human need for the supernatural, which does not settle merely for prayer in the community in which one lives and works, but is rather manifested in the readiness and boldness to embark on a long journey, often uncomfortable and unsafe, in order not only to realize in the walk towards the Unknown one's own faith, but also to share in meeting people from the other coast the cultural, social, religious and, naturally, economic koinè of Mare Nostrum.
A total of 303 pilgrimages to Loreto and Assisi have been found, attesting to 2,513 pilgrims travelling, mostly in large and organized groups of up to 80 people, from the east coast of the Adriatic - from Umag in the north to Boka Kotorska in the south - to these old and to Croatian believers well-known sanctuaries. At the forefront were the residents of Lošinj, who had demonstrated their loyalty to the Mother of God in 75 recorded journeys with 1,132 pilgrims setting off from that great Kvarner island.
The novelties presented in this dissertation are three-fold:
- Analysis of 16,000 Croatian maritime sources of which 4,000 have just been published. These are as of yet unprocessed documents in the Croatian historiography, providing us with a huge database and enabling us to gain completely new insights not just into the history of the Croatian 18th century in the Adriatic, but specifically into pilgrimages as a constitutive element of general Croatian history;

- Hermeneutics of the anthropology of the sacred in the historical analysis of pilgrimages;

- Use of computer software that reads digitalized documents like words (OCR) and enables saving them as Excel documents in which results can be systematized and synoptically analyzed – which in the case of such a large number of documents is also a valid methodological solution for similar and further extensive research.

Key words
Pilgrimages, pilgrims, captains, shipowners, maritime affairs, Croats, Loreto, Assisi, 18th century, Croatian Maritime Regesta, religious anthropology, sacred, sacral, prehistory, Mare Nostrum, Adriatic, Nikola Čolak

Adam Philippon&#39;s 1649 Parisian publication Le veritable plan, et pourtrait de la Maison Miraculeuse de la S.te Vierge, ainsy qu&#39;elle se voit á present á Lorette purports to record visually the divine structure believed to have been the home of the Virgin and site of the Annunciation that relocated miraculously to Loreto, a town on the eastern coast of Italy in the late-thirteenth century. But the structural interior portrayed does not represent the Santa Casa at Loreto. Rather, Philippon&#39;s print renders a replica of the architectural relic constructed on the Venetian island of San Clemente. This article explores the cultural ties behind Philippon&#39;s conflation of the Venetian replica with the Loretan original, and the ramifications of Philippon&#39;s representation for subsequent replicas.