Santa Caterina, Baroque sanctuary in Varazze, Italy

Santa Caterina is a small single-nave church on Piazza Santa Caterina along the Via Aurelia in Varazze, not on a hilltop. Its present facade dates from 1938–1940, with polychrome windows and a rose window. Inside, 19th-century frescoes show scenes from the life of Catherine of Siena, and an 1870 oil on canvas by Francesco Gandolfi hangs above the altar.

On 3 October 1376 Catherine of Siena, returning from Avignon, prayed at a Marian shrine in Varazze during a plague and had the elders vow a church to the Holy Trinity. The plague ceased and a small chapel was finished in 1377. A new chapel was built from 1652 on the present site, blessed in October 1658; the facade was rebuilt between 1938 and 1940.

The sanctuary is dedicated to Catherine of Siena, not of Alexandria: she stopped here on 3 October 1376, returning from Avignon, and asked the town elders to build a church to the Holy Trinity. Each year the procession of the crucifixes leaves the collegiate church of Sant'Ambrogio for the sanctuary, with the wooden case carried back and forth so the vow is fulfilled.

The sanctuary stands on Piazza Santa Caterina along the Via Aurelia in Varazze, not on a hilltop, so no uphill trail is needed. The single-nave interior is small; the facade faces the street and was rebuilt between 1938 and 1940. The votive procession of the crucifixes starts at the collegiate church of Sant'Ambrogio and reaches the sanctuary in the morning, returning in the afternoon.

A relic of the body of Catherine of Siena, added in 1743, was stolen by unknown thieves on 8 June 1993. The single nave also holds a 1760 bell tower with its bell, and a 19th-century fresco cycle begun in 1890 and finished in 1892.