- Porta Saragozza
- via Saragozza, on the flat
- Arco del Meloncello — the climb begins
- the stepped portico up the Colle della Guardia
- the sanctuary
01What it is
The Santuario della Madonna di San Luca stands on the Colle della Guardia, a hill south-west of the center that you can see from much of the city. It houses an icon of the Madonna that tradition attributes to Saint Luke, and the domed church you see was built in the eighteenth century to a design by Carlo Francesco Dotti.
02The portico
From Porta Saragozza on the edge of the old city, a covered portico runs all the way to the church: nearly four kilometers, most of it climbing. It was built between 1674 and 1739, paid for arch by arch by families, guilds and parishes whose names are still on the walls.
It is traditionally counted as 666 arches. The city itself notes that the true number depends on how you count them.
03The walk
The first stretch is flat, along via Saragozza. At the Arco del Meloncello, the portico crosses the road on a bridge-like arch and the climb begins: steady, stepped and shaded.
Allow about an hour to walk up at an unhurried pace, and wear shoes you can climb steps in. The portico makes it possible in rain and in the heat of summer, which is the whole point of it.
04Why it was built
Each spring the icon is carried down the portico into the city and stays for several days before it returns — a procession that has happened for centuries. The portico was built so the Madonna, and the people walking with her, would be sheltered on the way.
See the porticoes for the rest of the network it belongs to.
