The Sanctuary of Macereto is a Renaissance-style chapel or Marian shrine in Visso, province of Macerata, Marche, Italy. Built between 1528 and 1538 around a rustic 14th-century chapel housing a venerated statue of the Madonna, it is located in the Parco Nazionale dei Monti Sibillini.
History
The sanctuary is on a site formerly occupied by the medieval castle of Macereto, built below Mount Grotagna. Its strategic position controlled intersecting routes that crossed the inhospitable Sibilline chain of the Apennine Mountains. One road runs east through Cupi, down the valley to Fiastra and from there to the eastern coast. The other road follows the spine of the mountain range to Ussita and from there, to Ascoli Piceno. At the sanctuary, the roads converge and then plunge west to Visso.
Routes of the Pilgrims
For pilgrims travelling from the west to the destination of Shrine of Loreto from the 13th century onwards, the Flaminian and Salarian roads would have been the safest and most travelled routes. Saint Basso in Cupramarittima was the stopping place along the way for pilgrims coming from the south and the Blessed Virgin in Ponte Metauro in Fano was the stopping place for those coming from the north."
In this small region, Visso and Camerino vied for control of traffic and the local population. Camerino, the older town, had a better position to control the huge number of traffic that came through the narrow pass at Muccia on the Flaminian road. The Camerinese were keen to control the routes through to southern Italy. The castle at Grotagna, that came to be called Macereto, was often disputed in the fierce rivalry with Visso, and when Pope Boniface IX placed Macereto under the jurisdiction of Visso in 1404 and then finally, in 1521, when "Duke Giovanni Maria Varano organised inspections and an in-depth study on the disagreements between the communities of Appennino, Ussita and Cupi" and a decree was issued that divided the contested land and put the hilltop of Macereto under control of Visso. Vissanis celebrated this event with the commission of the sanctuary.
Naming
Macereto as a place was first documented in 1255, when a landholder of the region, Tiboldo di Farolfo of Nocria sold this and nearby properties to Visso In 1259, the Count Magalotto dei Magolotti sold to Camerino a number of properties, including the Macereto Castle and its people. A rivalry between the boroughs heightened, because neither of these sales was entirely legal, since much of this desolate and barren land had never been formally recorded; thus the intramilial feud changed into an inter-communal feud.
In 1277 Visso burned down the Camerinese Apennine Castle, which was subsequently rebuilt. In 1313, Camerino destroyed the Castle of Macereto with the help of the Duke of Spoleto. This castle was also rebuilt.
Pope Boniface IX tried to mediate, assigning the Rocca di Macereto to the Counts Bante and Apollonio, sons of the papal notary Cataldino Boncompagni. By the end of the 14th century, the Boncompagni left the isolated Castle of Macereto and moved to Visso. In 1499 in one of the ensuing battles, the Camerinese killed Cataldino Boncompagni, forcing the family to emigrate and sell off the title to Visso. This left Castle of Macereto under the official control of Visso. They were to be linked again when in 1583 Pope Gregory XIII, from the same Boncompagni family, honoured his familial roots by making Visso a permanent base for the Government.
In 1521, the issued decree and truce ended the disputes over the land, with "the verdict agreed and sworn upon by Sir Venanzio Cistofori, legal authority of Camerino and by Sir Gianpietro Dominici, legal authority of Visso". In 1522, having set up the new borders with Camerino and achieving domination over the area with a final decisive victory over another rival borough of Nursini in the battle of Pian Ferduto, "Visso was then able to make use of its freedom and new security to realize the long planned project and build at Macereto, a great and artistic sanctuary."
Origin of the Sanctuary
The Macereto plateau had been grazing lands for shepherds transiting from Mounts Sibillini to the territories of Visso and Norcia, and the Roman plains, between the end of September and the beginning of May. In the Macereto plain, flocks could come and graze without encroaching on each other. This led to annual summer sheep fairs (fiere), which continues to this day.