Loreto

The Santa Casa is a small stone and brick room, about nine metres by four, which arrived here in 1294 and which tradition holds is the house of the Virgin from Nazareth, carried by angels; a documented alternative is that the Angeli family of Epirus transported the stones. Whatever the route, the structure is enclosed inside a marble screen carved with prophets and sibyls, designed by Bramante and executed by Sansovino and others, itself inside a large basilica begun in 1468 with a dome by Giuliano da Sangallo. Pilgrims have come for centuries, and Loreto became the patron shrine of aviators in 1920 for the flight legend.

What you actually see

• The Santa Casa - a small brick house standing inside the basilica.
• The Bramante screen - a carved marble casing around the house.
• The Sangallo dome - one of the earliest large Renaissance domes.
• The Signorelli frescoes - a sacristy ceiling by Luca Signorelli.

When to go

April to October; the shrine is busiest on Marian feast days and in the December anniversary week. Services run through the day and access pauses during them.

Honest expectations

It is an active pilgrimage site, crowded and devotional rather than a museum. Dress code is enforced. Access to the Santa Casa queues during services.

Nearby

Recanati lies south; the Conero coast is north.