Cascia

Cascia, a hill town in the Umbrian Apennines, draws pilgrims and hikers alike to the places of Saint Rita: the basilica that holds her remains, the monastery of her religious life, and Roccaporena’s birthplace, sacred rock and miracle rose garden. Saffron fields, truffle woods and the wild Corno river complete a genuinely mountainous Umbria.

Why visit

Cascia belongs to a category of Italian places where faith, history and landscape are inseparable. Between the fourteenth century and her death in 1457, Rita Lotti — wife, mother, widow, Augustinian nun — lived the whole of her story within a few kilometres of this valley, and the town has grown into one of Italy’s great pilgrimage centres around it. Her remains rest beneath the modern Basilica Shrine of Santa Rita, home to the Augustinian nuns of the monastery she entered, while at Roccaporena, the village of her birth, the birthplace, the marital home and the Sacred Rock where she climbed daily to pray trace the saint’s life in stone.

But Cascia is more than its shrine. This is the mountainous heart of Umbria, between the Sibillini and Terminillo, where the Corno river cuts a valley suited to rafting, the woods yield prized black truffles, and small terraced fields grow the saffron and the ancient roveja legume that local cooks treat as signature ingredients. Pilgrims on foot, cyclists on the mountain roads and food travellers all find their own route through the same handful of villages.

Character and history

The town sits high in the Umbrian Apennines, a scatter of stone quarters around a ridge with views across the valleys of the Corno. Its character, however, is fixed by a biography. Around 1381, in Roccaporena under the jurisdiction of Cascia, Rita was born to Antonio Lotti and Amata Ferri; she married Paolo Mancini, raised twin sons, endured the vendetta killing of her husband, forgave his murderers, lost her sons, and finally entered the Augustinian monastery of Cascia, where she lived in prayer for decades, marked on her forehead for fifteen years by a wound from Christ’s crown of thorns. Known as the saint of thorns and of roses — for the rose and figs that, according to tradition, her cousin found blooming in the snow as she lay dying — she died at the monastery and was buried there.

Devotion grew steadily over the centuries: the marital home became a chapel under Pope Urban VIII in 1629, and in the twentieth century the community of nuns led by Mother Maria Teresa Fasce built the great basilica beside the old monastery — a dream the monastery’s own site celebrates as having become reality. Roccaporena gained its modern sanctuary in 1948, with a white marble portico and a mosaic apse added in 1967. Today the monastery runs schools, a foundation and a home for young people in need, keeping the saint’s social as well as spiritual legacy alive.

What to see

The essential circuit has two halves. In Cascia itself, the Basilica Shrine of Santa Rita opens daily for prayer; beneath its high altar lies the monastery of Santa Rita, the Augustinian community’s historic home, where the saint’s remains draw a constant stream of visitors. Pilgrims can follow the marked Paths of Santa Rita that link the town and Roccaporena along the saint’s own geography.

At Roccaporena, five stops tell the life story: the birthplace with its little bedroom kept as a shrine; the marital home, a chapel since 1629; the church of San Montano, where she married and where her family is buried, patronised by a saint whose legend has a bear taking an ox’s place at the plough; the Garden of the Miracle, where roses bloom for the winter miracle; and the Sacred Rock, a crag rising from the woods above the village, worn smooth by centuries of pilgrims climbing to the spot where the saint prayed.

How to experience

Walk the route rather than drive it where you can: the Paths of Santa Rita connect Cascia and Roccaporena on foot, and approaching the basilica on pilgrimage legs — even short ones — changes the feel of the visit entirely. Give the basilica time in the early morning before coaches arrive, and attend if you can one of the sung offices of the nuns’ community. At Roccaporena, follow the sequence birthplace to rock at your own pace; the climb to the Sacred Rock is short but steep, and barefoot pilgrims have polished its upper steps to a shine.

Balance the pilgrimage with the mountains: raft the Corno’s seven-kilometre run, ride an e-bike between the Sibillini and Terminillo ridges, or join a guided truffle hunt in the woods. Time visits to the calendar where possible — the May feast of Saint Rita fills the town for days, autumn brings the saffron market fair and the truffle season, and summer’s Estate Casciana programme packs the evenings. Taste the valley’s table: saffron-scented first courses, roveja soups and the local cured meats.

Practical planning

Cascia lies in the province of Perugia in southeastern Umbria, reached by road up the Valnerina from Spoleto or Norcia; rail travellers leave the Rome–Ancona line and continue by bus, with direct services linking Rome itself to Roccaporena on peak pilgrimage days. The visitor centre on Piazza Garibaldi handles information and bookings. The basilica keeps generous daily hours, but the Roccaporena sites, sanctuaries and guided activities run seasonal schedules, so confirm on the official shrine and tourism pages before travelling. Accommodation spans pilgrim guesthouses, hotels and farmstays in the surrounding mountains; pack layers in every season, as the valley sits high and evenings are cool even in summer.

Nearby places

• Norcia — the walled town of Benedict and of norcineria salumi, up the Valnerina.
• Trevi — the olive-oil hill town where the Valnerina meets the Spoleto plain.
• Valnerina — the wild Nera river valley linking the region’s mountain villages.
• Spoleto — festival city with cathedral and aqueduct bridge, on the road out.