santuario, diocesano, Santa Maria del Lauro

The Santuario Diocesano di Santa Maria del Lauro stands on the high Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria, in the town of Scalea. It is a Baroque church, built from the early years of the eighteenth century. The structure owes its existence to a vow: the fishermen of Scalea, joined by those from Meta di Sorrento, pledged to raise a sanctuary in thanks. They offered a wooden simulacrum of the Virgin of the Laurel, a devotion that had flourished at Meta since the eighth century, after a statue of the Madonna was miraculously found at the foot of a leafy laurel tree.

The church belongs to the parish of San Nicola di Platea and is open year-round. Adjoining the sanctuary are rooms used for the spiritual gatherings of pilgrims. It is a quiet, unassuming place, where local faith and a particular strand of Marian devotion have been housed for three centuries, looking out over the sea that brought its founders here.

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