Madonna del Lauro, Minor basilica in Meta, Italy.

Madonna del Lauro is a Baroque basilica in Meta with a Latin cross layout. The interior is supported by fourteen columns that define the main nave, while two side aisles feature cross vaults.

A statue of the Virgin was found in the 8th century under a laurel bush where a temple of Minerva once stood; after it repeatedly returned from Sorrento Cathedral, it was placed in the chapel of the Salvatore, renamed Santa Maria del Lauro in 1206. That chapel was demolished and rebuilt in 1569 for the crowds of pilgrims. The church was declared a monument on 29 November 1913 and raised to minor basilica on 25 March 1914.

The 16th-century inner wooden door, behind the iron portal, carries twenty-four carved panels of the Mysteries of the Rosary. The wooden pulpit, built in the 19th century, has a spiral marble staircase placed by tradition where the laurel bush stood; sailors left ex-votos here.

A broad flight of steps leads up to the 19th-century neoclassical facade, whose paired pilasters flank the portal. Behind the iron entrance door stands a 16th-century carved wooden door. The bell tower rises 41 metres in grey tuff with yellow plaster panels, in five levels: three square, then two octagonal under a bulbous dome.

The statue kept inside is connected to a legend about its discovery beneath a laurel tree and a mute woman who regained her speech upon finding it. This story has made the shrine a place of deeply rooted faith and personal hope.