The beautiful city of Loreto, not far from the Adriatic coast, is one of the world’s most important shrines. The town mainly exists thanks to the thousands of pilgrims that come here from all over the world.
Despite of the translation of the “Santa Casa” (Holy House) happened in 1294, Loreto was officially recognized by the Church as the city of pilgrims only in 1507.
According to the legend the “Casa Santa”  was carried away from Angels in 1291, when the city was subjugated by the Saracens. It first arrived in Dalmatia and stayed there till the 10th of December, then it was miraculously moved to a laurel grove (Latin “lauretum”, hence “Loreto”).
The construction of the Dome begun in 1468 and Pope Julius II decided to build other palaces around the Dome.  They had originally be built according to the gothic style under the supervision of both the architects Bramante and Sansovino, but then dominated the Late Renaissance style. 
The statue of the Black Madonna of Loreto, which is in the “Santa Casa” is just a copy of the original which was destroyed in a fire in 1921.