Sanctuary of Saint Mary of the Spasimo or of the Chapels

In the rugged landscape of northern Calabria, the Sanctuary of Saint Mary of the Spasimo, also known as the Sanctuary of the Chapels, stands as a singular curiosity. It is the only Sacro Monte, or sacred mountain, to exist not just in Calabria but across all of central and southern Italy. Most such devotional complexes are found in the north; this one, begun in 1557, was the work of a local man, Domenico Longo. He had travelled to Jerusalem the year before, a journey of seven months, and returned with drawings of the holy places he visited in eleven days. The chapels were built to evoke those distant sites, recreating the sacred geography of the Holy Land in this mountain village. The result is a Renaissance-era pilgrimage in miniature, a quiet, stone-built reminder of a long and improbable journey, anchored by a manuscript on parchment that records the pilgrim’s name and his purpose.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.