Santa Maria in Porto Fuori, Roman Catholic church in Porto Fuori, Italy
Santa Maria in Porto Fuori is a Catholic church near Ravenna, first documented in 1103 and consecrated in 1131 by Gualtero, later archbishop of Ravenna. Completely destroyed by an Allied bombing on 5 November 1944, it was rebuilt on the same site. It was declared a parish on 15 August 1915 by the decree «Sancta Maria in portu extra moenia».
The first records of Santa Maria in Porto Fuori date to 1103, when repairs were made to an earlier building; the church was consecrated in 1131 by Gualtero, a former Portuense canon regular who became archbishop of Ravenna. It was the original seat of the Portuense canons regular and the centre of devotion to the Madonna Greca, whose image tradition says arrived on 8 April 1100. The monks moved to a new monastery near Porta Nuova in the early 16th century, and the church was destroyed by an Allied bombing on 5 November 1944, then rebuilt on the same site.
The name of the Porto Fuori hamlet comes from the church's dedication. For centuries it was the original seat of the Portuensi regular canons and the centre of worship of the Madonna Greca, whose image tradition holds arrived miraculously on 8 April 1100; the canons moved to a new monastery near Porta Nuova at the start of the 16th century.
The church stands in the Porto Fuori hamlet, a short distance from Ravenna; the settlement itself takes its name from the church's title. The building on the site is the reconstruction carried out after the 5 November 1944 Allied bombing, so visitors see the post-war structure rather than the medieval fabric. The parish was formally erected on 15 August 1915 by the decree «Sancta Maria in portu extra moenia».
Dante commentators have long linked the church to Paradiso XXI, 123, where the poet speaks of "la casa di Nostra donna in sul lito Adriano"; others identify that house as Pomposa or Santa Maria di Portonovo near Ancona. The church also kept the Madonna Greca, an image said to have arrived miraculously on 8 April 1100.
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