Description of the attraction
Madonna del Angelo is one of the largest churches in the resort town of Caorle, built on a small promontory jutting into the sea. Once the church consisted of three naves, but the sea regularly destroyed some of them, so in the 18th century the building of the temple was rebuilt and acquired its present appearance.
According to legend, once a group of fishermen saw a strange light emanating from somewhere from the sea, and when they approached it, they found a statue of the Virgin Mary with the Child and carried it ashore. The local bishop and residents of the city tried to take the statue to the cathedral, but it turned out to be too heavy. Then the bishop called the children, who, thanks to their innocence, were able to lift the statue and took it to the church of the Archangel Michael. Since then, the church has been called Madonna del Angelo.
The church itself is quite old, possibly one of the first churches built in Caorle. On the vaults of the temple, you can see a fresco depicting the legendary discovery of the statue of the Madonna by fishermen, and at one of the walls there is a huge Istrian stone, on which, according to the same legend, the statue was floating on the waves. There is an inscription at the main entrance to the church, which says that during a terrible flood in December 1727, the water rose to a mark of 1 meter 60 cm, but not a drop of it got inside the temple.
The current building of Madonna del Angelo dates back to 1751, when Bishop Francesco Trevisan Suarez, at the request of fishermen, ordered the rebuilding of the old three-aisled church, which by that time had practically fallen into disrepair.
It must be said that the veneration of the Virgin of the Seas is very common in Caorle. Two festivals are held in her honor - the annual Coronation Festival, when fireworks are lit throughout the city, and the Madonna del Angelo Festival, which is held every five years.
