Our Lady of Trapani

Our Lady of Trapani is a statue from the fourteenth century of white marble of the Pisan school depicting Mary and Child. This Lady, as Patroness of the city, has, for centuries, been an essential reference for the city. Located in the Carmelite convent of the Annunziata (Annunciation), for a time, just a few kilometers outside the city walls and now incorporated into it, the statue was taken to the city in the most difficult and risky moments of collective life, such as during the risk of an enemy invasion or a raid by Barbary pirates. The entire community then united around it feeling reconciled and protected. In these transfers only the people of the sea (the Naviganti, that is, “the ship,” or even “the great sea”, distinct from fishermen, the “boat” or the “little marina”) could carry the statue on their shoulders, because, according to a popular belief, “purtari non si fa di autri genti” (It cannot be carried by other people). A series of legendary elements common to other sacred images, such as the myth of its origin from the East aboard a ship that pulled into port in a storm, or the one that the foundation of the sanctuary would be set at the point where the ox-pulled cart carrying the statue had stopped, strengthen the connection of Our Lady of Trapani with the sea, a bond that highlights the city’s maritime vocation.