Santuario del Volto Santo

For anyone seeking a truly unique spiritual experience, the Santuario del Volto Santo in Manoppello (PE) is an unmissable destination. Nestled among the green hills of Pescara, between the Gran Sasso and Maiella mountains, this sacred site is world-famous for housing one of Christianity’s most enigmatic relics: the veil recognised as the true Face of Jesus Christ.

The story of the veil is as fascinating as it is dramatic. In 1506, a pilgrim entrusted the relic to the physician Giacomo Antonio Leonelli, where it remained with his family until 1608, when a mercenary stole it and sold it to Donatantonio De Fabritiis. He later gifted it to the Capuchin Father Clemente da Castelvecchio, who placed the veil between two panes of glass in a walnut frame.

Since 1646, the Holy Face has been on display for veneration. In the late 1970s, Trappist nun and expert iconographer Blandina Paschalis Schloemer discovered that the Face on the Shroud of Turin and the one in Manoppello perfectly matched, as both fabrics had rested on the body of Jesus.

The sanctuary building, completed in 1620, was later expanded to welcome the growing number of pilgrims. Its façade, constructed from red and white stone in the style of L’Aquila, is a fine example of Romanesque architecture reinterpreted. Inside, the church features a single aisle with side chapels and a coffered wooden ceiling that reflects Renaissance design.

In addition to the relic, which rests in a glass case above the high altar and draws pilgrims from around the world, the sanctuary offers an ex-voto hall displaying offerings of thanks and a museum of sacred art containing valuable paintings and liturgical furnishings, including works by local artists and a striking 19th-century painted altar.

As Pope John Paul II said, this Sanctuary is “a place of conversion, reconciliation with God, and an oasis of peace.”

Ph credit: preview image of the Tourist photographic archive of the Abruzzo Region