"Three ancient walls where tradition says the angel spoke to Mary"
Santa Casa di Loreto
Loreto, Ancona, Italia
At the center of Loreto's basilica, enclosed within Bramante's marble screen, stand three rough stone walls. Tradition identifies them as the front portion of the house in Nazareth where the Annunciation occurred. Archaeological analysis confirms the stones are Palestinian in origin. Pilgrims have been coming to touch these walls for over seven hundred years.
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Quick Facts
Location
Loreto, Ancona, Italia
Tradition
Site Type
Coordinates
43.4403, 13.6074
Last Updated
Mar 9, 2026
Three walls, identified by tradition as from Mary's house in Nazareth, arrived at Loreto around 1294. They have been the object of continuous pilgrimage since at least the fourteenth century and are now enclosed within Bramante's marble screen inside the basilica.
Origin Story
The traditional account holds that these walls formed the front portion of the house where the Virgin Mary lived in Nazareth, the house where the Annunciation occurred. The rear portion, a natural grotto, remains in Nazareth. In the 1290s, as Crusader presence in the Holy Land collapsed, the walls were reportedly transported first to Tersatto in Croatia (1291) and then to their present location (1294). Whether this transport was accomplished by angels or by human agency remains debated.
Key Figures
Virgin Mary
Traditional inhabitant of the house
Donato Bramante
Designed the marble screen enclosing the Holy House
Spiritual Lineage
The Holy House is the central relic of the Pontifical Sanctuary of Loreto. Its claimed connection to Nazareth links it to the earliest Christian sacred geography.
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