Madonna dei Cestisti the only sanctuary in the world
Even the New York Times wrote about it with an extensive report giving details on the Porretta Terme bridge
Madonna dei Cestisti the only sanctuary in the world
Porretta Terme, part of Italy in the province of Bologna. On the River Reno, nestled a stone’s throw from Basket City.
Its singular history of pilgrimage for fans of Italian basketball has even ended up on the pillars of the prestigious New York Times. But not for a “short” article or a filler. Far from it. For a real reportage.
The Italian newspaper La Repubblica wrote about it in the summer. Replied on December 28, the newspaper of the “Big Apple”. All because from the postwar period onwards, Porretta Terme is the home of basketball players most commonly basketball players.
An authentic pilgrimage
Basketball sportsmen from all over Italy bring their jerseys, venerated elsewhere. So that they stay there, asking for Mary’s protections. There, a stone’s throw from the city of today’s Champions of Italy of Virtus Bologna, and their fellow “F” rivals like Fortitudo
The church has an octagonal shape with a window through which the sun enters which resembles a basketball.
It looks like a kind of representation of the FIP or of the NBA basketball, since there was also the Los Angeles Lakers jersey, since the family of Joseph called Joe, Kobe’s father, lived near the sanctuary, when the parent, after Reggio Calabria and Rieti, passed through Pistoia, in Olimpia , Pistoia.
The need for that prestigious signature for …
The most important thing is that it moved there the, the Italian Episcopal Conference, with the clear purpose of ensuring that the Blessed Virgin of the Our Lady of Grace di Porretta become the patroness of basketball in our home.
For this to happen there is a need for the certification written in Latin called “Confirmatio” which must be prepared by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
The Municipality of Alto Reno Terme, competent for the territory of the sanctuary, organized a group of essays for ideas and advice and initiatives suitable for enhancing the sanctuary. The only place in the world that is explicitly dedicated to Basketball, something not to be underestimated and indeed to be highlighted.
The New York Times recalled, in the extensive report, that five years ago theArchbishop of Bologna, Matteo Zuppi, celebrated an Easter Mass in honor of the Madonna commemorating the 60th anniversary of the patroness, recalling that “life is like a basketball game”.
