santuario, ab immemorabile, Santuario di Maria SS.ma di Picciano

The Santuario di Maria SS.ma di Picciano stands on a green hill some twelve kilometres from Matera, a place of pilgrimage ab immemorabili, from time immemorial. Its fame rests on a Marian image described as “most miraculous and most ancient”. For roughly a thousand years, crowds have come from many towns in the surrounding regions.

Local chroniclers of Matera speculated that a medieval monastic settlement once stood by the Gravina stream, in a spot called “the little grotto”, and moved to the hill only after repeated floods. What is certain is the site’s deep-rooted pull: Pope John Paul II, during his 1991 pastoral visit to Basilicata, singled out Santa Maria di Picciano among the region’s “oases of meditation and Marian piety”.

Since 1966, Benedictine monks of Monte Oliveto have been restoring the ancient church, rebuilding old ruins, and adding new spaces. They continue to welcome pilgrims to this hilltop sanctuary, where the sense of centuries of devotion is almost tangible.

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