Description of the attraction
Orselina is a village located just 2 km from the historic center of Locarno, that is, it is practically part of the city. Its main attraction is the Monastery of Madonna del Sasso, that is, the Virgin Mary on the Stones. You can get to the complex by funicular, the lower station of which is located in the center of Locarno. The second route to the monastery involves a trip on an old train from the station on Ramona Street to the ancient access road, built up with neat chapels, along which numerous pilgrims ascended to the sanctuary from the end of the 15th century.
The convent of the Madonna del Sasso in Orselina is built on a rocky cliff. It consists of the Basilica of Madonna del Sasso, a Franciscan monastery, the Church of the Annunciation, built in the 16th century, and via Crucis, the very road with chapels that led to the sanctuary before the funicular was built.
According to legend, on a hill in Orcelin in 1480, the monk of the neighboring monastery Bartolomeo d'Ivrea saw the image of the Mother of God with the Child. Local believers, having learned about the miracle, immediately built the first chapel here. In the following centuries, the idea of creating a Calvaria appeared - a chain of chapels symbolizing the stops on the Way of the Cross.
The basilica, overlooking a large square square, houses a valuable statue of the Madonna del Sasso, made of wood at the end of the 15th century and considered miraculous. An entire wall in the temple is set aside for objects that numerous healed believers brought as a gift to the Mother of God. The basilica is also adorned with two priceless works of art - the paintings "The Flight into Egypt", written by Bramantino around 1520, and "The Placing of Christ in the Tomb", which Antonio Cisseri from the village of Ronco nad Ascona created in Florence in 1870.
