Architecture
The exterior of the building is notable for its use of layered stonework of contrasting colours: white Calissane limestone is alternated with layers of green, Golfalina stone in a style reminiscent of Florence. Inside the upper church, no expense was spared to provide a worthy setting for the veneration of the Virgin. Of particular note is the use of a variety of coloured marbles and polychrome pictorial mosaics. Access to the building is gained from a plaza 100 feet (35m) wide leading to a drawbridge. From this one one may either directly enter the crypt or climb a stairway to the entrance porch of the upper church. The building can be seen as a succession of spaces: the porch and bell tower, a nave flanked by side vaults, the transept, dome, choir and apse.
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