Tuši's blog: 14093

Saturday, December 16, 2017

14093

Italy: Svete Višarje / Monte Lussari

Nada has a new equipment for Ski Touring and to devirginize it we decided to do some backcountry skiing. Our destination was Svete Višarje, in Italian Monte Lussari.

On our way up we followed the road and a pilgrim way and after good 2 hours we reached the top of the mountain, at an altitude of 1766 meters. From the top we can see a picturesque village located around the Višarske Matere Božje pilgrimage church (Santa Maria in excelsis). After the tea we decided to return back to the car, using the ski slope. Easy for me and not so for Nada, since the new equipment already made two big blisters on her feet. She hardly reached the middle stage of the ski lift and the she just used it and safely descended back to our starting point. In the meantime I enjoyed my own way down.

Start of the pilgrimage way and our fancy equipment

Way up is easy and leads through the nice forest on roads and hiking paths

Nada on her first tour with new gear

As with many other holy places, there is a legend about how this pilgrimage started. The story says that in 1360 a shepherd was looking for his lost sheep and has found them at the top of the mountain range of Višarje. The sheep were kneeling around a bush, where there was a wooden statue of virgin Mary with Jesus. He took the statue with him to the home village and gave it to the priest. Although the priest took the statue and placed it to a safe place, the statue was gone and reappeared on the mountain, on the same place where the sheep were kneeling a day earlier. This happened again on the third day as well and when the church authorities heard about it, they built a chapel there. Through the various historical periods there has been turmoil, which caused the prohibition of pilgrimage, demolishing the altar, and so forth, but people never forgot this holy place, so the emperor gave the permission again, so the place became a pilgrimage destination.