santuario, mariano, Maria SS.ma della Strada

In the undulating countryside of the Benevento province, near the town of San Lorenzo Maggiore, stands a Benedictine sanctuary and convent. The church’s foundation, according to local tradition, was prompted by the discovery of a miraculous icon of the Madonna and Child.

On a June day in 1906, that same ancient image was solemnly crowned, fulfilling a long-held wish of the faithful and the particular dream of the local archpriest and his vicar. The gold crown, finely worked in a Gothic style, cost a considerable sum. The celebration was a grand affair: a bishop placed the diadems on the holy figures in a crowded square, a Pontifical Mass was sung with the orchestra of the Teatro San Carlo of Naples, and a celebrated preacher took the pulpit, exclaiming before the crowned icon as if before a vision of paradise. A century later, in 2006, the event was remembered with the purchase of a new crown. The sanctuary remains a place of enduring local devotion.

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