Santuario della Santa Casa in Loreto

You're standing on the square in front of the Basilica of the Holy House in Loreto, one of Italy's best-known pilgrimage sites. Start with the steps in front of the church. There's a huge statue of Pope Sixtus V up there. He had the façade built, fortified Loreto in 1586 and gave it the rights of a town. Above the main entrance you'll see a life-size bronze of the Virgin and Child by Girolamo Lombardo. The three bronze doors came from his workshop too, made by him, his sons and his pupils.