Madonna delle Lacrime Sanctuary

Syracuse, Italy

Open to visitors

The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.

Strollie cannot guarantee access — always check before you travel.

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The Basilica of the Madonna delle Lacrime is a twentieth-century Roman Catholic Marian shrine and minor basilica in Syracuse, Sicily, built between 1966 and designed by architects Michel Andrault and Pierre Parat. Executed in brutalist and modern architectural styles, the distinctive structure—famously likened to an inverted ice-cream cone—rises prominently above the approach to Ortigia and has become a dominant feature of the city's skyline. Serving as both a parish church and pilgrimage destination, the sanctuary exemplifies the bold geometric forms characteristic of post-war ecclesiastical architecture.