Our Lady of Loreto is the patron saint of aviators.

Saint of aviators in Loreto Photo © By Baldassarri Giuseppe itravelinitaly.com travelers from Italy

Saint of aviators, Via Papa Sisto V, Near the Torrione Rotondo, 60025, Loreto, Province of Ancona, Marche, Italy. The Lauretan tradition, relating to the transport of the house of Mary, by angels from Nazareth to the ancient Illyria (1291) then from there to the ancient territory of Recanati (1294), appeared very suggestive for the choice of the Madonna of Loreto as Patron who moves through the air. Poets and painters had already recalled this transport in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, imagining the flight of the Nazarene house almost like a modern flight: among the first examples, we can mention the painting Transport of the Holy House of Loreto by Giovan Battista Rositi from Forlì of 1501 and preserved today in the Diocesan Museum of Velletri. The most famous is the fresco, and its sketch, which Giambattista Tiepolo made in 1743 for the vault of the Scalzi Church in Venice and today preserved in the Gallerie dell'Accademia. Thus, since 1912 the Aviators and Aeronauts Company based in Turin, had entrusted itself to the protection of the Madonna di Loreto. A few years later, around 1915, that company, under the chairmanship of the honorable Carlo Montù, had its flag adorned with the image of the Laurentian Virgin. We also read that in 1915 the walls of the Holy House were painted inside the nacelle of the XXV Squadriglia, a sign of an explicit devotion to the Madonna of the flying house. The relationship between the Madonna di Loreto and the aeronautical world dates back officially to 1920 when it was proclaimed "Aeronautarum Patrona" by Pope Benedict XV. Our Lady of Loreto has since been the patroness of Aviators. There have been several air events since the 1950s, with an interruption in 2000 due to bureaucratic reasons. In 2010 and 2011, however, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of its proclamation as the patron saint of aviators, two air shows were organized which have met with considerable public success.