Santuario di Monte Calvario

The Sanctuary of Monte Calvario stands above Porto Maurizio in Imperia. Its church, devotional shrines and confraternity collections connect the hill with pilgrimage and the cult of the Holy Cross.

Why it matters

Bartolomeo Bruno founded the sanctuary in 1690 after a journey to the Holy Land. The memory of earth brought from Jerusalem gave the hill a particular religious meaning, while the later involvement of the Confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity connected devotion with charitable activity.

What to notice

The complex developed around an octagonal church, later enlarged with a portico and small convent. Polychrome marble altars and a devotional image of the Dead Christ reflect its Baroque religious setting. The associated collections preserve vestments, processional objects and chains offered by people released from captivity. Wayside shrines with Albisola ceramic tiles add another material to the devotional landscape.

Context and history

The confraternity took responsibility for the sanctuary in 1706. Enlargement between 1723 and 1727 changed the original building. Its history of ransoming captive sailors, followed by later charitable work, places the site within the social as well as religious life of the Ligurian coast.