The Chiesetta della Banderuola (Little church of the windvane) is a small,

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Marian shrine A shrine to the Virgin Mary, or Marian shrine, is a shrine marking an Marian apparitions, apparition or other miracle ascribed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or a site on which is centered a historically strong Blessed Virgin Mary, Marian devotion ...

chapel within the town limits of

Porto Recanati Porto Recanati () is a town in the province of Macerata in the Marche region of Central Italy. It was made an independent town on 15 January 1893, due to a decree issued by King Umberto I causing the coastal hamlets of the town to be separated fr ...

, province of Macerata, region of

Marche Marche ( ; ), in English sometimes referred to as the Marches ( ) from the Italian name of the region (Le Marche), is one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. The region is located in the Central Italy, central area of the country, ...

, Italy.

History

The little brick chapel shrine has a peculiar history, linked to the resurgence of Marian devotions in the mid-19th century. The present church, although appearing older, was erected in 184 using a design by the architect Pietro Pasquali. Tradition held that this locale was the Italian transitory port of arrival in 1294 for the miraculous transportation of the '' Santa Casa di Loreto'', to which the small church now bears a resemblance. Documents site that by 1467, neighbors had erected a wall to memorialize the event. The area was called ''Bandirola'' or ''Banderuola'', since it appeared to have windvane to signal to pilgrims arriving by sea of the road to Loreto. Further documents in 1561 refer to restoration of the wall. In 1844,

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

approved a much grander project, but bureaucratic wrangling restricted it to the small chapel. The present church was rebuilt in 1939-1940.monograph on the history of the chapel
by the Centro Studi Porto Recanati.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banderuola Porto Recanati 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy