Chapel of Our Lady of the Cross

The evocative Madonna della Croce, a small chapel resembling a miniature church, stands on a north-facing promontory about 100 meters above sea level. Inside, it houses a tiny altar, two small kneelers, and a short ascending path leading to a terrace of just a few square meters. This terrace overlooks one of the most breathtaking—and once most dangerous—views of the coast, offering a wide panorama stretching from the northern horizon to the southwest. The chapel’s strategic location suggests it may have originally served as a beacon to guide sailors before lighthouses existed. Its presence provided reassurance to those who had to traverse the pass, which was once a steep dirt path only crossed on foot or by mule before the construction of the road in the 1960s.

The chapel is a landmark visible from both sea and land, as the Passo acts as a kind of connection: it marks the end of Piano di Tramontana to the west and the beginning of Contrada Spalmatore. According to local tradition, it was built by the first settlers where an image of the Madonna was found. Parish priest Tranchina wrote in his 1885 “History of the Island of Ustica”: “They found an image of the Virgin with the dead Jesus in her arms, which gave the name to the so-called Passo della Madonna,” and recounted that pilgrimages to this sacred site took place every Friday.

Inside the niche is a wooden sculpture of a “pietà” from 1884. But the truly extraordinary and unique aspect is the landscape: the chapel sits in one of the island’s most spectacular spots, a must-see for pleasant tourist walks. After the town’s Church-Parish-Calvary complex, the chapel is Ustica’s most important religious building—so much so that it gave the location its name: Passo della Madonna. It’s so renowned that Giuseppe Pitrè included it in his 1893 collection of folk tales. It’s also the destination of an annual long procession.

The chapel likely predates the settlement, and its construction history offers a glimpse into island life in the mid-1700s: pirate raids, the inability to defend oneself, and the constant threat of deportation. Only the Madonna’s intervention could save the island’s first brave inhabitants! Let’s read Giuseppe Pitrè’s account of the miraculous event tied to the Madonna della Croce:

“The petrified Turkish ship of Ustica. On a peak of Ustica’s mountain, corresponding to today’s Passo della Madonna, once stood a statue of Mary. Now, at the time when Barbary pirates infested even this island, a pirate ship landed there for one of their usual raids. The sailors disembarked, saw the statue, and began mocking it, deciding to use it for target practice with their muskets. But at the first shot fired by one of them, the bullet rebounded like lightning, striking the ship, which immediately sank and turned into a rock. This rock is commonly known as ‘lu Bastimentu turco’ because it still retains the shape of the sunken Turkish galleon, tilted to one side. A few steps away lies a much smaller rock, believed to be its petrified dinghy.”

From the terrace above, you can still spot, amid the water’s green reflections, the eerie rock formations resembling two Turkish galleons. Descending to the sea, you’ll find yourself in one of Ustica’s most mesmerizing underwater spots.