Madonna del Sasso, Religious sanctuary in Orselina, Switzerland
Madonna del Sasso is a pilgrimage complex of pale yellow and white plastered buildings with terracotta tile roofs, built down a steep, wooded rock spur above Lake Maggiore in Orselina. Its square bell tower, topped by a green pyramidal spire, carries the inscription "SANTA MARIA" and "DEL SASSO". An arcaded loggia with arched openings faces outward, and lower wings with tall arched windows and brown-shuttered windows step down the slope.
A Franciscan friar founded this sanctuary in the late 1400s after reporting a vision of the Virgin Mary at this location. The building was expanded and modified over centuries as the pilgrimage site grew in importance.
The name "santa Maria del Saxo" first appears in the 1498 deed by which the Masina del Monte family gave the Orselina rock to the Franciscans. The friars' church was consecrated in 1502, and the site's feast day recalls the apparition to Fra Bartolomeo. Pilgrims still follow the Via Crucis chapels up the hill, built between 1620 and 1677.
The site stands at 370 m above sea level in Orselina, above Locarno, and is reached by the Locarno–Madonna del Sasso funicular. A walking route climbs past the chapels of the Via Crucis and the Rosary along the ridge. The sanctuary church was reduced by about half in 1814 to create the procession square.
The 1903 retaining wall built to widen the choir completely covered the rock spur on which the sanctuary rests, so the natural crag is now hidden behind masonry. The bell tower was rebuilt in the same campaign by architect Alessandro Ghezzi of Lamone.
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