About Loreto we have a secure document of the twelfth century, but some scholars suggest other sources of the early eleventh century (1018). On top of Mount Prodo, there was a church, dedicated to Saint Mary; in a document of 1193 the church and its assets were donated by Jordan, Bishop of “Umana”, the Monastery of  “Fonte Avellana”: "[...] In Nomine Dei Anno eius sunt ab incarnatione  Domini Jesu Christi  MCLXXXXIII (1193) ... Concedimus in perpetuo in heremo Fontis Avellanae et tibi dopno (i.e.“domino”) Marco venerabile priori ... Ecclesiam Sancte (ae) Marie (ae) que (quae) est sita in  fundo Laureti [...]"; ie, "In the name of God, in the year 1193 from the Incarnation of Our God Jesus Christ ... We always concede to the monastery of Fonte Avellana and you, Marco, venerable Prior ... the Church of Saint Mary of Loreto, which is located in the ‘fundus’ of Loreto  ... "(This document is contained in G. Cappelletti,  “Le Chiese d'Italia dalla loro origine fino ai giorni nostri” [“The Churches of Italy from their origin to the present day”], 1848, p. 90). Loreto was therefore indicated in the documents as "fundus ("farm") Laureti" and, as explains G. Cappelletti, "that church ... and the parish were called 'Sancta Maria de Laureto' or 'in Laureto'. "

With regard to the etymology of Loreto, it is equally well explained by the same G. Cappelletti, who  noticed that, probably, the farm was "covered with Laurels" and, for that reason, "it was said in Latin “Lauretum” (“laurel wood”) (p. 239). Which is true, as demonstrated by recent studies that also report much earlier date of 1193:  “[..] 'Lauretum' place,  of laurel trees planted ... since 1018 was dependent on the Diocese of Senigallia, Fermo and Ancona County; but, since 1179, it was attached to the Diocese of ‘Umana’, which was subject to Recanati [...]" (See “Loreto”, Istituto Italiano d'Arti Grafiche ["Loreto", Italian Institute of Graphic Arts], 1910, p. 28). Established the antiquity of “Lauretum”, some historical problem was born about the amount of population in the “fundus”; for  some scholars “Lauretum” (XIII century) was already a “vital” village"  (“Already in 1194 Loreto is a vital and  established village, around which enlarges a wide range on the 'fundus'”) [See “Assistenza e ospitalità nella Marca medievale: atti del XXVI Convegno di studi maceratesi”, San Ginesio, 17-18 November 1990]. For other scholars, however, “still in the thirteenth century the site of  Loreto does not host any social group: it was simply a 'fundus' in the territory of Recanati” (See E. Alfieri, 1971, p. 6).

Probably Loreto in the thirteenth century was a small village and its history really began in the fifteenth century, when it became the site of a sanctuary dedicated to Our Lady, famous throughout Europe.