Our Lady of Pompeii

In the 1870s, an Italian lawyer named Bartolo Longo began building a shrine to Our Lady of the Rosary next to the ruined ancient city of Pompeii. Over the following decades, this shrine grew into one of the most important Catholic pilgrimage sites in Italy, with a whole new city developing around it. Our Lady of Pompeii: Ruins, Religion, and Memory tells the story of Bartolo Longo's shrine, focusing on its relationship with the neighbouring archaeological site. In six chapters, and with the help of more than fifty photographs and maps, it shows how ancient Pompeii gradually became part of the shrine's identity, providing inspiration for the artists, writers, and pilgrims who were drawn to the shrine and the miracle-working image of Our Lady that was housed there. The book reveals the ambivalent attitude of Bartolo Longo and his collaborators to the classical past, which was seen in both positive and negative terms—that is, as an object of fascination and antiquarian curiosity, and as the dead and dusty 'land of idols and demons'. By tracing the history of this shrine and the people who lived, worked, and worshipped there, the book also gives a valuable new perspective on ancient Pompeii, showing how this renowned archaeological site continues to hold meaning for people around the world today, and how—through religion and memory—it becomes intertwined with their own lives and personal histories.