The Sanctuary of the Madonna di Canneto is located in the Canneto Valley in the Abruzzo National Park at an altitude of 1020 and at the foot of Mount Meta and is documented for the first time in 819 AD.
It was built by Benedictine monks probably on the remains of a previous temple. From the archaeological excavations this place was a pagan place of worship dedicated to the Goddess Mefiti who in 400 AD was adapted by Christians.
It can be reached via paths from Settefrati or Picinisco and all summer is a destination for pilgrimages.
Legend says that the Virgin Mary appeared to a shepherdess to whom she asked to build the sanctuary.
Over the centuries, this church had particular papal privileges: those who worked there had the right to indulgence, to the forgiveness of sins
Beyond the facade, the church is modern and has the particularity of having the opposite wall, that of the altar, totally glazed with a suggestive view of the woods.
Inside is the stature of the Black Madonna of Valle di Canneto.
It is a pilgrimage destination with a centuries-old tradition.
The Canneto Valley
The Canneto valley since ancient times was frequented both for the extraction of iron and for the cult of the goddess Mefite, whose temple probably stood near the copious springs of the Melfa. Evidence is found in a votive capital from the 4th - 3rd century BC.
The pagan cult was replaced in the Middle Ages by that of the Madonna to whom grandiose celebrations are paid during the festival of the "four regions" in which pilgrims from the four regions participate: Abruzzo, Lazio, Campania and Molise.
According to legend, the church was built after the apparition of the Madonna to the humble shepherdess Silvana.
The lady dressed in white told her to go to the village and tell her to build a temple dedicated to her in the valley. When the shepherdess said that she had to water the animals and that she was afraid for their health, the lady touched a rock and made water flow.
The shepherdess went to the village and when she returned with some villagers they were surprised to find a lake formed by the waters of this new source, from which the river Melfa then originates.
The inhabitants also found a statue of the Madonna with the Child enthroned, now kept in the church, and decided to bring it to the village to put it in one of the churches.
As they moved away from the point of discovery, the statue became heavier and heavier to the point that it fell and they could no longer move it. In a rock along the path the imprint of the statue's head left on a stone is still visible.
The statue was then brought back to the valley and the construction of the temple began, which since then has been the destination of incredible pilgrimages every year.
It is said that the Madonna threw a ring at the point where the Melfa river flows, witnessed by many specks of gold that were found in the waters until the middle of the last century when the Aurunci aqueduct was then built.
The small pieces of gold were called 'the stars of the Madonna'.
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