Spring

Follina, a small town at the foot of the Trevis-Belluno Prealps, is a focal point of the religious tourism circuit that leads to the discovery of places rich in spirituality and devotion and of great artistic value.

Here you will find one of the most beautiful holy buildings in Veneto: the Abbey of Santa Maria.

Suspended between the ground and the sky, clinging to the rocky wall of Mount Baldo, the charming Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Crown is a sacred site made beautiful by both its spiritual character and the originality of the surrounding landscape. The Sanctuary, belonging to the Diocese of Verona, is in Spiazzi, a hamlet of Ferrara di Monte Baldo.

The history of the Great Rogation, the 33 km long procession through the Asiago Plateau that takes place every year on the Saturday before Ascension Day, has very deep roots.

It started as a well wishing walk for the harvest, but in 1600, after the great plague, it became a trail of thanks for the survivors, and the people of the Plateau have been doing it since then with great fervor.

The route of the Great Rogation - which can be walked all year round - goes around seven towns.

Intended to renew the fame and splendour of the Venetian towns which have marked many of the papacies of the 20th century, the Popes’ road leads visitors through silent walks and meditations in the woods of Cadore and the Venetian plain, discovering the places of birth or retreat of several Popes who had special connections to the Veneto region.

The road is constituted of two paths which leave from the mountain areas of Cadore and Agordino to join up at Belluno. From here, the Popes’ road continues across the province of Treviso and arrives to Venice.

In the first half of the sixteen century the town of Bovolone (in the province of Verona) became an important pilgrimage destination as a result of the strong popular devotion to a marble statue of the Madonna and Jesus child on a throne (both wearing a belted tunic thus giving this name to the Shrine). 

According to historical chronicles, there were so many votes, offerings and votive panels donated to the Virgin that it was decided to build a church, completed in 1650 and known from then on as the Shrine of the Madonna of the Belt.

In the Padua area Christianity and the enormous devotion of Paduans is testified to by an invaluable religious architecture.

The Shrine of St Augusta at Serravalle, the ancient part of Vittorio Veneto (province of Treviso), is the final spot of an interesting journey, to make on foot, which starts from the Via Calcada, behind the apse of the Serravalle Cathedral. From here you ascend a monumental stairway built on the ruins of the ancient town gate "Porta del Terraglio", demolished in 1931. It takes around half an hour, going steadily, to reach the top.

On the summit of Mount Berico, the south-west hill that dominates the city of Vicenza, stands the best known and most popular Venetian sanctuary dedicated to the cult of Our Lady. Its origins are linked to the appearance of the Blessed Virgin in these sites: the first time in 1426, the second time the following year, when Vicenza was facing a terrible plague. Tradition has it that on both appearances of Our Lady, a young girl was asked to be the spokeswoman for a request: the construction in that site of a Church dedicated to Her, with the promise of ending the plague. So it was.