The sanctuary of the Madonna del Tindari is one of the most beloved of all Sicily. It stands on top of the hill of the same name overlooking the lakes of Marinello (a lagoon area that is the last example of coastal brackish present in northeastern Sicily. The whole area is a nature reserve).
The site testifies a very long history, from the Greek colony of Tyndaris to the Byzantines to the Swabian Middle Ages up to the Aragonese period. Behind the apsidal area of the great new sanctuary (whose construction dates back to the 50s and 70s of the 20th century) there is the ancient sanctuary, rebuilt in the 16th century after the demolitions carried out by the Arabs.
Witness to the Byzantine visual culture is the medieval statue of the Virgin venerated in the sanctuary, a magnificent wooden Majesty. According to tradition, the sculpture of the "Brown Madonna" was hidden on board a ship coming from the East, fleeing from the iconoclastic destructions. The sacred image would have prevented the ship from leaving after it had taken refuge in the bay of Tindari to escape a storm that arose suddenly.
