The legend of Andrea Anfosso

From the book "Breve Storia di Lampedusa" by A.Taranto:

According to legend, during a raid of the Barbary pirates in Liguria, around 1560, Andrea said Anfosso Gagliardo, was taken prisoner and chained to the oars. Several years later, while he was on a pirate ship that had stopped in Lampedusa to raise finance for water and timber, managed to escape and hide in the bush, in a cave he found a painting of the Madonna and, using a log tree dug up and using the framework as a sail, ran dall'isolae after a long journey he reached the coast of Liguria Castellano built a shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Lampedusa.

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The shrine is located a short distance from Castellano, a small town in the province of Imperia, with little more than a thousand inhabitants and is known today as Our Lady of Lampedusa (ed.).

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 We thank Anthony Taranto for giving back to the pages
 Site www.bluebab.it
 parts of his book "A Brief History of Lampedusa" purchased at
 the Lampedusa Art Gallery.Tutti rights in the material
 photographs and the book are reserved.