Marian Cult-sites along the Venetian sea-routes to Holy Land in the Late Middle Ages (original) (raw)

The present paper discusses materials collected and analysed in the frame of a research project coordinated by Michele Bacci at Fribourg University and supported by the Swiss National Found. It focuses on the spread of Marian cultic phenomena along the maritime routes between Venice and the Holy Land, which corresponded to the major commercial itineraries among territories mainly belonging to the Venetian Stato da Mar. Relying on evidence provided by 14th to mid-16th century pilgrims’ travelogues, this study lays emphasis on the dissemination of new holy sites and cultic attractions which took place in this intermediary space between Venice and Palestine, namely on the coasts of Istria, Dalmatia, Albania, Corfu, the Morea, Candia, Rhodes and Cyprus, during the Late Middle Ages. In this respect, a number of holy objects found in such sites were regarded as especially attractive on account of their more or less direct association with the Gospel narratives. A key-role was played, in t...