What a beautiful Catholic Town!! Designed around the huge Catholic Church at the center of the Town, right across the street from the Catholic Ave Maria University, is a piazza style town center, surrounded by stores and restaurants including the Ave Maria Religious Gifts & Statues store which has the MOST beautiful statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for whom the Town is named!! “Ave Maria” means “Hail Mary”, which is also the beginning words of a beloved Catholic prayer recited in the rosary. Other stores are the Mercy & Mary Center and the Catholic Ave Maria University bookstore which carries Catholic books, prayer cards, medals, rosaries, shirts & more! The Museum for Saint Mother Teresa used to be on the corner of the piazza but is now located on the Ave Maria University campus right across the street. The Ave Maria Parish Hall and the Parish Office are all conveniently located on the piazza too! Every March 25th, the Town celebrates the Feast of the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel came to Mary to accept her “yes” to be the mother of God, Jesus! It is a huge party with food, bands, and fireworks for all!! And of course, at least 5 Masses per day, especially on this most important Catholic feast day which happens to also be the birthday of the Town’s founder, Tom Monaghan, who started Domino’s Pizza, and later in life used his millions of dollars to build this Town and Catholic college!! When you enter the Town from Oil Well Road, on Ave Maria Boulevard, you are greeted by a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary on your right, and statues of of the angel Gabriel greeting a young Mary on your left, representing the Annunciation! Then as you go down Ave Maria Boulevard, you will arrive at Annunciation Circle which goes around the consecrated ground of the Ave Maria Church at the center of the European style piazza. The Church is almost 200 feet tall and can be seen from miles around. This was by design. Seton Way, which is on the left of the church, is named after St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and goes over the Seton Bridge, heading towards the Donahue Academy, a top-rated pre-K to 12th grade Catholic school. Public schools are conveniently located just outside the Town on Oil Well and Immokalee Roads. To get to parts of Maple Ridge and Avalon Park neighborhoods or the Town of Immokalee, one can take Pope John Paul II Boulevard, located behind the Church off the piazza. Pope John Paul II is now a canonized saint of the Catholic Church. Many events located on the college campus are open to the Town’s residents, like talks by renowned Marian speaker, Prof. Mark Miravelle. Also available is a 24 hour Eucharistic Adoration Chapel right across from the piazza. Many residents get around by golf carts. Other events include Christmas with a Christmas Tree lighting and huge Advent wreath in front of the Church, which is lit by the Church pastor, Fr. Corey Mayer. This happened last week and Father explained about this season of waiting for the birth of Our Lord Jesus on Christmas Day! There were also Christmas carolers, a nativity play and procession, led by the Angel Gabriel, into the Church for an Eucharistic Holy Hour with singing by a beautiful choir! Check out videos on the history of the Town by Tom Monaghan and his partners Barron-Collier. Catholics from all over the United States contributed to the building of the Town and University and also moved here, with great effort on their part, resulting in the growth of this wonderful Town you see today! Merry Christmas!

I've read alot about Ave Maria. We're Praying that we move the whole family there soon, God willing ! Btw nice video.

beautiful city, I would very much like to live there (hermosa ciudad, me gustaría muchisimo vivir allí)

Awesome video! Thanks! You should consider doing an updated video following the same path - to show all the growth over the last several years!

It's really beautiful💜

Looks Great and very CLEAN THAT'S A PLUS.

No drugs, no alcohol, no pornography, dress with respect, be honest..

It really is a nice, beautiful little town! Love the small town vibes because I’ve always been a small town person my whole life. It was very quiet there, so peaceful, everybody was so kind, good restaurants, and business. The chapel was breathtaking in person! Luckily I’m only 1 hour and 40 minutes from this place. Only con about this town is the mosquitoes 🦟 problem and that’s really the only thing.

I discovered that paradise exists!!

So Gorgeous,Awesome......

Magnificent city! † AVE MARIA! VIVA CRISTO REY!

Hermosa cuidad

Lindíssima ❤

Great video though!!

They even have a Publix now in the town!

Que bonito

Preciosa, quisiera vivir allí

I want to move their but my wife says its in the middle of the everglades and she's afraid of serpents. I'm afraid of human serpents

❤

Can you fly over the new phase four of Maple ridge at Ave maria.

🔆

Cuanto cuesta vivir ahí?

Where’s the golf course?

I have been there in 2008

It's hot there all year round

My dad went here to go golfing and he said it was weird there was almost no one outside even though there were houses near the golf course and there was patio furniture and everything but there was no one there no lights on or anything except for one house that had some church music playing

Nice architecture. But why are there so few trees/palms in the city area? It must be unbearably hot on all that concrete in summer. 95f air Temperature with cement temperature soaring well above that. Also there’s no people around? Lol

I live in waterways in Immokalee

Where is the church belfry?

How do I get in contact with you?

How far from the Everglades? Oh, you’re in the Everglades!

I dont see any mountains........are there no trails for hiking?

It looks like a suburban apocalypse, but to each their own, I suppose. Maybe it'll look nicer when the trees grow out.

Ce n’est pas en France que cela serait possible 😢

Sounds a little like black ops 2 zombies at the beggining

Like living in a bubble. Creepy. What happens if you don't attend church?

wow that campus area is hideous

Great music reminds me of assassin's creed

Another beautiful example of development destroying the Eveglades.

Dear Californians and New Yorkers, please stay away.

this is so fucking creepy