Le Sette Sorelle del Cilento

The Seven Sisters of Cilento are seven images of the Madonna that popular tradition regards as bound together by a bond of sisterhood. Kept in sanctuaries often perched on mountaintops or set deep in the woods, the seven Madonnas watch over the land as familiar presences. According to an ancient tale, they gaze at one another from one height to the next, ideally uniting communities, valleys and far-off villages. Over the centuries, an extraordinary heritage of faith and popular culture has grown up around these places: pilgrimages on foot along ancient paths, songs and prayers handed down orally, festivals that mark the calendar of the seasons, processions in which women carry votive candle crowns (cinti) on their heads, and gestures and rituals that still shape the life of the villages today. Each sanctuary preserves its own story, made up of founding legends, apparitions, miracles and particular devotions, but all share the same deep bond with the land and with its people.