Portonovo - Santa Maria di Portonovo

For many centuries this church and the adjacent monastery, now gone, were the only buildings, isolated between sea, marsh, and cliffs (it reminded me a little of Kalaupapa on Molokai).

Portonovo is a small village and a well-known tourist center south of Ancona. The church of Santa Maria di Portonovo is very hard to find and only with the help of some locals I found it. The best way is to park in front of the campsite and then walk south along the beach for about a kilometer. If you then climb a short but steep slope, you are only by insurmountable barbed wires away from the church.

For many centuries this church and the adjacent monastery, now gone, were the only buildings, isolated between sea, marsh, and cliffs (it reminded me a little of Kalaupapa on Molokai).

The first information about the monastery and church of Portonovo seems to date back to 1034, when the land was donated here for the construction of a church. The construction of the church is estimated to the middle of the 11th century.

St. Gaudentius, who as bishop of Ossero had been expelled by the faithful, lived here as a monk until his death. Traditions know that he worked miracles already during his lifetime. After his death, this fame eventually led the Christians from Ossero to steal and bring back the holy body and to Ossero. Today his tomb is in the cathedral of Osor (Croatia).

The Benedictine monastery of Portonovo later lost its prosperity due to earthquakes and landslides. When the monks were allowed to settle in Ancona in 1320 with the permission of the bishop, the decline began.