Cittareale. Sanctuary of the Madonna of Capodacqua

The sanctuary of the Madonna of Capodacqua was built in Cittareale to protect a sacred image.

Around the eleventh century the discovery of a miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin took place.

These findings were happening because of the passage of the Barbarians in the fourth and fifth centuries.

The Christians hid the sacred images in inaccessible places to rescue them from the ferocity of the iconoclast heretics.

At the instigation of the Greek Emperor Leone Isaurico, images were to be removed from the temples, broken and burned.

This is why some images were found centuries later in several towns and have become new objects of devotion.

This is what happened also to the miraculous image of the Virgin of Capo d’acqua.

On that place was built a small chapel and later, thanks to the contribution of citizens, a magnificent church called "Costa della Madonna" was erected.  

In 1153, Pope Anastasius IV with a bull turned it into parish.


Written by:
Benedicta Lee

Born in Rome from an Italian mother and American father, she works as a freelance communications manager and designer in the tourism sector, a career and interest which she is pursuing with a...

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