Sanctuary Of Santa Maria Infra Saxa, Genga on:
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The Sanctuary of Santa Maria infra Saxa and the so-called Tempio di Valadier are two sanctuaries and chapel located at the entrance of the Frasassi Caves, a remarkable karst cave system in the municipality of Genga, in the 
The sanctuary and chapel are located within a few dozen meters of each other, on a ledge entrance to the Frasassi cave system. The sanctuary is ancient; it is cited in documents from 1029. It is a simple stone structure built by Frasassi Caves
official site.
province of Ancona
The province of Ancona ( it, provincia di Ancona) is a province in the Marche region of central Italy. Its capital is the city of Ancona, and the province borders the Adriatic Sea. The city of Ancona is also the capital of Marche.
To the north, ...
, Marche, Italy.
The sanctuary and chapel are located within a few dozen meters of each other, on a ledge entrance to the Frasassi cave system. The sanctuary is ancient; it is cited in documents from 1029. It is a simple stone structure built by Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
monks to house a burned image of the Madonna.
A ''Tempietto'' or small octagonal temple on the site was first proposed in 1817 by the future Pope Leo XII
Pope Leo XII ( it, Leone XII; born Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiorre Girolamo Nicola della Genga (; 2 August 1760 – 10 February 1829), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 28 September 1823 to his death ...
, who was originally from Genga. The white travertine structure, completed in 1827 after Leo had become pope, was long thought to have been designed by Giuseppe Valadier Giuseppe Valadier (April 14, 1762 – February 1, 1839) was an Italian architect and designer, urban planner and archaeologist and a chief exponent of Neoclassicism in Italy.
Biography
The son of a goldsmith, Luigi (1726–1785), Valadier was born ...
, and is still widely referred to as the "Tempio di Valadier". However, in 2016 a study of previously unexamined archives by Maria Cristina Cavola revealed that Valadier had absolutely nothing to do with the building: it was rather an accretive design to which a series of local architects and project managers made successive contributions. The chapel once housed a marble statue of the ''Madonna and child'' by the studio of Antonio Canova. The statue is now in the civic museum of Genga, and been substituted by a copy. When the Tempietto was built, a number of remains of skeletons were found in the opening of the cave.official site.
References
11th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Roman Catholic churches completed in 1828 Octagonal churches in Italy Neoclassical architecture in le Marche Churches in the Province of Ancona Roman Catholic churches in the Marche Neoclassical church buildings in Italy {{Italy-RC-church-stub