Loreto, a hill town, is a comune of the Italian province of Ancona, in the Marche and most commonly known as the seat of the Basilica della Santa Casa, a popular Catholic pilgrimage site.
The city's main monuments occupy the four sides of the piazza: the college of the Jesuits; the Palazzo Comunale (formerly the Palazzo Apostolico), designed by Bramante, that houses an art gallery with works of Lorenzo Lotto, Vouet and Annibale Carracci as well as a collection of maiolica, and the Shrine of the Holy House (Santuario della Santa Casa). It also boasts a massive line of walls, designed by the architect ( and military engineer ) Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, which were erected from 1518 and reinforced in the 17th century.

An ancient tradition tells that the walls of the Shrine existed in Nazareth, Galilea: the Holy House is the same House where Our Lady Mary was born, grew up and received the angelic announcement.

This tradition, based on devotion and popular belief, ascribed the transportation of the House of Nazareth to an angelic mission; current historical studies have developed the hypothesis of a transportation carried out by Man, through sea and land, that came true with special assistance from above. That’s the way “to read between the lines” and give the most probable explanation to the Holy House event.

Our Lady of Loreto is the Virgin's title with respect to the Holy House of Loreto, contained within the Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto, in Loreto, Italy. A number of saints have consideed it the holiest place on earth, since in the Holy House "the Word became Flesh." The House has been been shown to be constructed of materials native to Nazareth and with dimensions which suit the site of the cave venerated in Nazareth as the home of Mary at the time of the Annunciation.

On the hillside of Nazaraeth in Christ's time it was common to adjoin a structure to one of the many caves, and so a very equitable interior climate was maintained in this partially underground home. The archeology of the House, and of the cave in Nazareth over which both the ancient and modern basilicas of the Annunciation were built, support the connection between the two.