Loreto, Italy (Marche): What to See, Eat & Stay

Inside Loreto's basilica stands a house: the Holy House of Nazareth which, tradition holds, arrived here in 1294, making the town one of the Catholic world's most important Marian sanctuaries. Bramante and Sansovino worked on its marble screen; the Black Madonna watches from the altar.

Around the porticoed square, the Renaissance fortress-town reads as a collective work of the era's greatest architects. Every June, the overnight Macerata-Loreto pilgrimage brings tens of thousands of walkers to the basilica at dawn. From the hill, the Conero sea closes the horizon.

The Loreto guide

Where to stay

Compare hotels, B&Bs and holiday homes on Booking.com for your dates.

Events & festivals 1

Next up: Our Lady of Loreto, patroness of aviators and the fires of the Venuta, Thursday 10 December

Getting there

Nearest airport: Ancona, 28 km away

🎉 Festivals and feasts in Loreto 1

Patron saint festival In 57 days

Our Lady of Loreto, patroness of aviators and the fires of the Venuta

📅 Every year, on 10 December; on the night of 9-10 December the fires of the festa della Venuta are lit

Loreto celebrates Our Lady of Loreto on 10 December, the day when Marche Day is also celebrated; on the night between 9 and 10 December, the great fires of the festa della Venuta are lit, to «light the path to the Holy House». On 12 September 1920, Our Lady of Loreto was proclaimed «Patroness of Aviators».

What's around

Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.