Small, simple, unique: this is the sanctuary of Avvocata in Maiori, located at over 800 meters high on Mount Falerzio, also known as Mount Avvocata, on a terrace that looks like a large pulpit above the Amalfi Coast and the entire Gulf of Salerno. This sanctuary, which is both a mountain and a sea sanctuary, can only be reached by paths that start from Cava de’ Tirreni, Cetara and Maiori, partly following the Alta via dei Monti Lattari.
According to tradition, the Madonna appeared in sleep in 1485 to a shepherd asking him to build the sanctuary. The young man erected a first altar and then, from 1503, a church was built, which was soon joined by a community of monks.
The pilgrimage to the Madonna dell’Avvocata takes place on Pentecost Monday: believers from all over Campania gather to climb up to the sanctuary accompanied by the rhythm of the tammorre (a drum typical of Campania’s popular music). Generally the ascent takes place on Sunday, and then camp on the plateau, or at first light on Monday. At midday the singing and dancing stops and at the tolling of the bells the Madonna is carried in procession on which a shower of rose petals is dropped.
