Description of the attraction
Barbana is a small island located at the northern end of the Grado lagoon near Trieste. This island is home to the ancient temple of Santa Maria di Barbana, dedicated to the Virgin Mary - it was founded in 582, when Elia, the patriarch of Aquileia, built a church next to the refuge of a hermit named Barbano. Today, the island is home to a small community of Franciscan monks, and you can get here by ferry from Grado.
According to legend, in ancient times, during a terrible storm, the sea threw the image of the Virgin Mary onto the coast of Barbana, which was then found under an elm tree. In those years, the island was still part of the mainland - the Grado lagoon was formed only in the 5-7th centuries. Around the year 1000, Barbana became an island, and monks from the Barnabite order settled in the temple built on it. True, the original 6th century church was destroyed during one of the floods and was later rebuilt. Unfortunately, that very image of the Virgin Mary was also lost, and in the 11th century a wooden statue, known as Madonna Mora, appeared in its place. This Black Madonna is today kept in a chapel next to the main church, Domus Mariaje.
From the 11th to the 15th century, the temple belonged to the religious order of the Benedictines, who were replaced by Franciscan monks, who built a new church in the 18th century. The current building of the temple was erected in the early 20th century in the Romanesque style. Two ancient Roman columns and a 10th-century bas-relief depicting Jesus have survived from the old building. The crowned statue of the Virgin Mary dates from the 15th century, while several altars and paintings, including a canvas by the Tintoretto school, date from the 17th century. In the forest next to the church, there is a small chapel, the Capella del Apparicione, built in 1854 - it was erected on the very spot where the image of the Virgin Mary was found.
Today the island of Barbana is a place of pilgrimage. Every July, the Perdon de Barbana festival is held here in honor of the deliverance of Grado from the plague in 1237.
