Pierno

Pierno is an inhabited hamlet in the municipality of San Fele (Potenza), in Basilicata, set on a small plateau at an altitude of 960 metres: a rocky mountain landscape rich in springs and chestnut woods. Here stands the beautiful Badia di Santa Maria di Pierno, which, according to tradition, was founded by St William of Vercelli around 1139, after a statue of the Virgin was found in a cleft on Monte Pierno, where it had been hidden by Basilian hermits from nearby Monte Santa Croce. The sanctuary was consecrated in 1221. In 1456, after an earthquake, the statue was moved elsewhere, but it disappeared from its new home and reappeared at Pierno. Following this miraculous event, the church and monastery were rebuilt. The Romanesque interior has a nave and two aisles; the complex was restored after the damage caused by the 1980 earthquake.

A guided tour of the whole complex, comprising the church and the adjoining monastery, is not to be missed; archaeological excavations are currently under way on the north side.

Devotion to the Madonna of Pierno is still deeply felt. In the past, worshippers, mostly groups of farmers, travelled to the sanctuary on foot. During the pilgrimage, still held every year on 14 and 15 August, the faithful show their devotion to the Virgin by spending the night at the sanctuary and camping in the surrounding area. The festival also renews the purification rite of picking up stones and laying them around small wooden crosses; before entering the sanctuary, pilgrims walk three times around the church.

Tradition holds that the Badia di Santa Maria di Pierno was founded by St William of Vercelli around 1139. Records also show that the abbey was a dependency of the Abbey of Goleto.