Cappella di Loreto

The Loreto Chapel at Prato alla Drava is a seventeenth-century replica of the Holy House of Loreto, built around 1650 by innkeeper Johann Klettenhammer after a pilgrimage to the Marche.

Why it matters

Loreto devotion spread through the Catholic Alps in the seventeenth century. Klettenhammer returned from Loreto with a copy of the Madonna image and built a chapel modelled on the shrine's Holy House. Its survival through repeated landslides became part of local religious memory.

What to notice

An exterior fresco depicts the legendary transport of the Holy House by angels. Inside, a replica of the Madonna of Loreto image recalls the chapel's devotional purpose. Votive tablets record generations of prayer and local belief.

Context and history

The chapel was built by 1650 and consecrated that year, according to regional listings. Landslides damaged it repeatedly, and severe damage led to its relocation to higher ground in 1761. A railway built in the nineteenth century required the demolition of Klettenhammer's inn, but the chapel remained. Repeated damage without destruction contributed to its reputation as a place protected by divine intervention.