santuario, diocesano, Santuario di San Giovanni Paolo II

The Santuario di San Giovanni Paolo II, in the hamlet of San Pietro della Ienca, is the first sanctuary dedicated to the late pope. This medieval mountain church, where shepherds once prayed, was noticed by Wojtyła when he would slip away from the Vatican, unannounced, to ski on the Gran Sasso or simply to take in the alpine views. One morning, a blizzard forced his party to turn back; it was then that he spotted the little stone church and scattered houses, white with snow, and insisted on visiting the abandoned village. He returned many times, finding in that remote quiet a place for private contemplation. The sanctuary was officially designated by the Archbishop of L’Aquila in 2011. The building itself is ancient, a simple, rugged structure of local stone, typical of these high-altitude churches. It stands in a sparse, beautiful landscape of peaks and sky, its character of profound sacrality a legacy of the ascetic pope who found solace there.

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