Sanctuary of Santa Augusta

The Sanctuary of Santa Augusta, on Monte Santa Augusta, Vittorio Veneto, attracts pilgrims and lovers of the view. A monumental staircase leads to the relics of the saint. From the large square you can enjoy a panoramic view of Vittorio Veneto, the surrounding plain and the Revine lakes. Tradition tells the story of Augsburg, martyred for her faith.

The Sanctuary of Santa Augusta is a very popular destination for the inhabitants of Vittorio Veneto. It is located on Mount Marcantone, now commonly known as Mount Santa Augusta. The classic access path begins in Via Calcada, on the back of the Cathedral of Serravalle. After a monumental flight of steps, crowned by arches and a statue of Santa Augusta, it continues along a mule track, sometimes cobbled, which winds first between the walls of the fortified walls, then along the wooded side of the hill. Seven seventeenth-century chapels overlook the slope. Here ends the Alta Via n. 6 dei Silenzi which starts from the Sorgenti del Piave.

The Sanctuary of Santa Augusta is flanked by an ancient crenellated tower (now a bell tower) and a neo-Gothic portico. Inside there is the Chapel, the oldest part of the Sanctuary, where the relics of the Saint are kept. From the large square around the Sanctuary, still a destination for pilgrimages, the view extends from the narrow Serravalle to the Revine lakes, from Val Lapisina to Col Visentin and, towards the south, over the city of Vittorio Veneto and the plain. According to tradition, the church stands on the site of an ancient castle where Augusta, daughter of King Matruc, lord and tyrant of those lands lived at the time of the domination of the Visigoths by Alaric. Augusta converted to the Christian faith and, discovered by her father, was tortured and martyred. In 1450 it was decided to rebuild the ancient church and the burials of Augusta and the nurse Cita were discovered. The chapel dedicated to her has valuable frescoes attributed to Andrea da Treviso.

A curiosity: tradition has it that to make painful migraines go away, it is enough to insert the head into the gate that marks the place where a stone urn hid the bones of the saint, so much so that the popular rumor reads "le cordéle de S. Gusta healed them from bad luck”!