The Sanctuaries of Southern Retia from catholic bulwark to destination of cultural and religious tourims

Between the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 17th century, several sanctuaries dedicated to the Marian cult were built in Valtellina, distributed along the whole valley rift. In that period, the political context had been characterised for three centuries (1512-1797) by the domination of the Grigioni (which followed a political dependency on the State of Milan), a domination by a political-administrative entity, the Republic of the Three Leagues, mainly German-speaking and protestant. The defence of their cultural diversity was very likely the reason for the creation of the worship sites system which caused a “sacralisation” of the territory in Valtellina, thus providing a testimony to the Catholic faith of its inhabitants. During the Counter-Reformation period, the sanctuaries were the strongholds of religious regaining in the valley, by becoming centres of attraction for pilgrimages from the surrounding mountain areas. Also in the following years the Marian sanctuaries remained attractive for the pilgrims. Some maintained a local range of attraction while others broadened it, by expanding it well beyond the alpine areas. Among the latter we can find the Sanctuaries of Gallivaggio (Val Chiavenna), Grosotto and Madonna of Tirano. This last sanctuary is located right at the end of the Poschiano valley, nearby the Swiss border. Last century it was given the title of “Minor Roman Catholic Basilica” (1927) and the fifth centenary of its foundation has been celebrated in 2004-2005. The peculiar characteristics of the site, which blends faith and art, turn Madonna of Tirano into an important attraction for cultural and religious tourism, a kind of tourism which could establish a productive relationship with the across-the-border Swiss-Italian UNESCO site of the Rhaetian railway of Albula and Bernina.