santuario, mariano, Santa Maria in Palmentata

In the medieval countryside of Sant’Agata de’ Goti, a small church dedicated to Santa Maria stood among the vines. The name ‘Palmentata’ recalls a landscape of cultivated vineyards and the wine press that once worked the land. Oral tradition tells of an apparition of the Madonna among olive branches, requesting a place where she might be invoked. By the fourteenth century, a church already existed here, and over the centuries it became a focus of deep Marian devotion, drawing pilgrims from neighbouring towns. As more families moved into the countryside for agricultural work, the parish was established in 1872. In 2022, the church was formally recognised as a Marian sanctuary, confirming a role it had long held in local faith and memory. Santa Maria in Palmentata remains a quiet witness to the enduring link between devotion, landscape, and the rhythms of rural life.

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