santuario, mariano, diocesano, Santuario Maria Santissima di Monte Stella

On the slopes of Monte Stella, nine kilometres from Pazzano, the hermitage-sanctuary of Maria Santissima della Stella overlooks the vast Stilaro valley. This complex of cave, early-twentieth-century church and seventeenth-century convent sits within a landscape shaped by Byzantine monasticism, where solitary anchorites once sought contemplation and severe asceticism in such grottoes.

The sanctuary’s heart is a natural cave, the largest in the valley, reached by a ramp of sixty-two steps. Within, a primitive chapel was rediscovered in 2008. An icon of the Dormitio Virginis (the Kimesis) from Mount Athos was placed here, a gift from the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I during his 2001 visit. Above the cave’s entrance, an fresco depicts the Communion of Saint Mary of Egypt by Saint Zosimus; other paintings include the Holy Trinity, the Archangel Michael, the Adoration of the Shepherds and the Pietà. In a niche, on a baroque altar of local marble, stands a sculpture of the Madonna della Stella, likely from a Messinese workshop. Above, in the convent church, a canvas shows the Madonna as the ‘Woman of the Apocalypse’, carried in procession on the night of 14-15 August.

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