The Church of the Apparition of the Virgin Mary in Strunjan (Santa Maria della Visione) is the largest pilgrimage church in northern Istria. Seafarers visited the church to pray, give thanks, make vows and traditionaly offer votive paintings to Saint Mary after surviving adversities at sea.

A legendary event took place on the night of 14th of August 1512, when St Mary appeared to two vineyard guards in front of the old church.

The tradition of the pilgrimage along the sea route to Strunjan has been revived in recent years, with a particularly solemn pilgrimage from Piran to Strunjan on the 14th of September 2015, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the apparition of the Virgin Mary.