Description of the attraction
The Temple of Santa Maria di Polsi is a church located in the heart of the Aspromonte mountain range near the village of San Luca in the Italian region of Calabria. It was founded in 1144 by the Norman king Roger II of Sicily. The church and monastery are located in a picturesque place at the very bottom of the gorge, surrounded by high mountains. In the west, Mount Montalto (1955 meters) is visible - the highest peak of Aspromonte. This location of the temple makes it very difficult to access; a few years ago, Polsi could only be reached on foot.
Santa Maria di Polsi is a Basilian monastery, one of the last surviving in Calabria. The church has three naves, the central one is distinguished by a classic honeycomb vault, which is decorated with sheets of pure gold. The arches resting on powerful columns are decorated with magnificent stucco work by local craftsmen. And the drawings on the walls around them depict scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary. The ancient statue of Madonna was carved from tuff by a Sicilian artist in the 16th century. Another statue of the Madonna is kept in a white marble niche. Once every fifty years, an important event takes place in the temple - the coronation of the statues of the Madonna. The first coronation took place in 1860 to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the statue's arrival at the temple.
In general, the origins of this cult go back to distant times. In the nearby town of Locri, a former ancient Greek colony, archaeologists have discovered several artifacts made in the pre-Roman era and testifying to the existence of a female cult in these places, probably dedicated to Persephone. In the 7th century, the Basilian monks founded a skete here, where they glorified the Madonna according to Greek canons, until they were expelled at the end of the 15th century. Nevertheless, today pilgrims from all over Calabria and eastern Sicily arrive in Polsi to worship the Virgin Mary - their number during the celebration reaches 50 thousand people!
Interestingly, even at the beginning of the 20th century, members of the Calabrian mafia, the ndranghetta, held their annual meetings in the temple of Santa Maria di Polsi. In 1969, police raided the meeting and arrested about 70 mafia members. And in recent years, the number of pilgrims to the temple has slightly decreased due to conflicts that broke out in 2007 between the two mafia clans of San Luca.
