BASILICA DI NOSTRA SIGNORA DELLE GRAZIE E SANTA MARIA GORETTI

This basilica was built in 1970 on the spot where an ancient church dedicated to St Rocco once stood. Inside the Basilica there is a wooden statue of the "Madonna with Child" which is an object of noted popular devotion. According to tradition, when the statue was being transported from England on a ship destined for Naples, after a storm at sea, the statue miraculously arrived in Nettuno. Since then, the Madonna delle Grazie is the protectress of Nettuno, and even today, there is a great procession in her honor every year on the flrst Saturday in May in which thousands of faithful participate. In an underground crypt the remains of Santa Maria Goretti are kept. Devotion to Maria Goretti is particularly strong among the people of Nettuno, yet there is also a great following of faithful around the world. Pope Pius XI! beatifled her on 27 Aprii 1947 and canonized her, declaring her Saint of the Church, on 24 June 1950. The occasion took place in St. Peter's Square in the presence of the President of the Republic, Luigi Einaudi, and Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi.
Marietta, as she was fondly called at home, died at the Fatebenefratelli Hospital in Nettuno on 6 July 1902 from brutal knife wounds. The previous day the family's neighbor Alessandro Serenelli had tried to molest her and when she resisted he stabbed her 14 times. Maria Goretti was 11 years, 9 months and 21 days old.

Maria was born in Corinaldo (Ancona) on 16 October 1890 to Luigi and Assunta Carlini. From 1897 to 1899 the Goretti family moved, first, to Colle Gianturco near Paliano (Prosinone), and then to Ferriere di Conca, ten kilometers from the town of Nettuno (today Borgo Montello, in the province of Latina). There, in February 1899, they became sharecroppers on a parcel of land owned by the Count Mazzoleni. The little farmhouse where Martella lived her very short life, and where she was sacriflced, is today called the House ofMartyrdom. It is a profoundly venerated piace and the destination of a Constant stream of pilgrims from ali parts of the world. In July 1929, the remains of the young girl were transferred, for contemplation by the faithful, to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Grace. The Passionisi Fathers bulli Ihis Basilica -Sanctuary and maintain it. The locai community celebrates St. Maria Goretti 's Feast Day on 6 July with a pilgrimage lo Le Ferriere and a program of choral music.