Nostra Signora de su Monte

Nostra Signora de su Monte is a sanctuary on Monte Ortobene above Nuoro. Its white façade and small pilgrim lodgings, known as cumbessias, stand within the mountain landscape of holm oak, cork oak and granite. The church is closely associated with the writer Grazia Deledda, whose family had a lodging there.

Why it matters

The sanctuary is a longstanding centre of popular devotion in the Nuorese. Its history combines a local foundation tradition, the mountain pilgrimage and a literary connection: Deledda recalled the sanctuary and her family’s stays there in her novel Cosima.

What to notice

The church has an aisleless hall with ogival arches, a wooden roof and a side loggia opening from the atrium. The surrounding cumbessias provided lodgings for families attending the novena. Their door plaques preserve commemorations of the sanctuary’s foundation, including the Pirella family’s coat of arms. The mountain’s woods and granite landscape form a broader setting for the site.

Context and history

According to the foundation tradition recorded at the sanctuary, the Pirella brothers vowed to build a church to the Madonna after a storm at sea in 1608. The first summit they saw was Monte Ortobene, where the church was inaugurated on 25 April that year. The sanctuary was originally dedicated to the Madonna di Montenero. A bronze statue of the Redeemer, attributed to Vincenzo Jerace, was placed on the summit in 1901 and became a prominent symbol of Nuoro.