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The Santuario di Vicoforte (also known as Santuario Regina Montis Regalis) is a monumental church located in the commune of Vicoforte, province of Cuneo, Piedmont, northern Italy. It is known for having the largest elliptical cupola in the world.
It originated as a small medieval sanctuary, consisting of a modest shrine containing a fifteenth-century fresco depicting a Madonna and Child. Around 1590 a shooting party passed by and a huntsman accidentally struck the image of the Virgin. According to legend, she began to bleed. The penitent huntsman added his arquebus to the shrine and began to collect the large sum of money which would be needed to repair the damage and expiate his sin. Today the arquebus is preserved in a chapel of the sanctuary near the fresco which it had disfigured.
In time the place became a centre of pilgrimage. An early visitor was the duke Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy who, in 1596, commissioned the construction of a large sanctuary from the court architect Ascanio Vitozzi. However the death of both the duke (who had wanted to be buried here), and of the architect, put a stop to the building work.
Construction was resumed in the eighteenth century under Francesco Gallo who built the great elliptical cupola which has major and minor diameters of 36 and 25 metres (118 and 82 ft) respectively. It is said that Gallo was required to remove the scaffolding himself, as nobody thought that a structure of this type would be able to stand on its own.
The decoration in fresco of the 6,032 square metres (64,930 sq ft) of the cupola’s vault was completed in 1752 by Mattia Bortoloni and Felice Biella, and the sanctuary finally attained its current form in 1884, when the campanili were built along with the three façades.
On December 15, 2017, after years of planning, the remains of Queen Elena of Italy, were secretly transferred from Montpellier, France, to the chapel of San Bernardo inside the sanctuary. Two days later, the remains of King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy were transferred from St. Catherine's Cathedral, Alexandria, Egypt, where he had died in exile, and interred alongside the former queen. [1] [2]
Florence Cathedral, formally the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower, is the cathedral of Florence, Italy. It was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and was structurally completed by 1436, with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi. The exterior of the basilica is faced with polychrome marble panels in various shades of green and pink, bordered by white, and has an elaborate 19th-century Gothic Revival façade by Emilio De Fabris.
The Sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel is a Roman Catholic shrine on Mount Gargano, Italy, part of the commune of Monte Sant'Angelo, in the province of Foggia, northern Apulia. It has the dignity of a minor basilica.
The Church of the Gesù is the mother church of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), a Catholic religious order. Officially named Chiesa del Santissimo Nome di Gesù all'Argentina, its façade is "the first truly baroque façade", introducing the baroque style into architecture. The church served as a model for innumerable Jesuit churches all over the world, especially in the Americas. Its paintings in the nave, crossing, and side chapels became models for Jesuit churches throughout Italy and Europe, as well as those of other orders. The Church of the Gesù is located in the Piazza del Gesù in Rome.
Greccio is an old hilltown and comune of the province of Rieti in the Italian region of Lazio, overhanging the Rieti Valley on a spur of the Monti Sabini, a sub-range of the Apennines, about 16 kilometres by road northwest of Rieti, the nearest large town.
The Basilica of Saint Augustine in Camp Martius, commonly known as Basilica of Saint Augustine is a Roman Catholic minor basilica in Rome. The titular church is dedicated to Saint Augustine of Hippo and serves as the motherhouse of the Augustinian Order.
Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria di Montesanto are two churches in Rome.
The Basilica of San Domenico is one of the major churches in Bologna, Italy. The remains of Saint Dominic, founder of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans), are buried inside the exquisite shrine Arca di San Domenico, made by Nicola Pisano and his workshop, Arnolfo di Cambio and with later additions by Niccolò dell'Arca and the young Michelangelo.
The Shrine of Santa Maria della Steccata is a Greek-cross design Renaissance church in central Parma, Italy. The name derives from the fence in the church. A Nursing Madonna is enshrined within, crowned on 27 May 1601 by a Marian devotee, Fray Giacomo di Forli of the Capuchin order. Pope Benedict XVI raised the Marian sanctuary to the status of Basilica minor on 9 February 2008.
San Gaetano, also known as Santi Michele e Gaetano, is a Baroque church in Florence, Italy, located on the Piazza Antinori, entrusted to the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.
The Shrine of Nostra Signora della Guardia is a Roman Catholic place of pilgrimage located on the top of Monte Figogna in the Municipality of Ceranesi, about 20 kilometres from the city of Genoa, in the northwest of Italy.
The Basilica of Our Lady of Humility or Madonna dell'Umiltà is a Renaissance-style, Roman Catholic Marian basilica in Pistoia, region of Tuscany, Italy.
The Santuario della Madonna Consolata is a Roman Catholic Minor Basilica and Marian sanctuary in central Turin, Piedmont, Italy. Located on the intersection of Via Consolata and Via Carlo Ignazio Giulio, the shrine is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Consolation.
San Vitale is a Baroque style, Roman Catholic church located in central Parma, region of Emilia Romagna, Italy. it stands just east of the Palazzo del Comune and Piazza Garibaldi.
The Sanctuary of Madonna dei Miracoli is a church in Alcamo, province of Trapani, Sicily, southern Italy; it is dedicated to the Madonna of the Miracles.
San Filippo Neri is a late-Baroque style, Roman Catholic church located in Turin, region of Piedmont, Italy. The church is located on Via Maria Vittoria 5; the left flank of the nave faces the Turin Academy of Sciences. The church is still used for services. 69 metres (226 ft) long and 37 metres (121 ft) wide, it is the largest church in the city of Turin.
The Sacro Monte di Graglia is one of the numerous devotional places around the Italian Alps and it houses the Santuario di Nostra Signora di Loreto, one of the four major sanctuaries of the Biellese territory. Set in the Valle Elvo at 690 m on the sea level, the sanctuary is built near the Lauretana water industry.
The Sanctuary of Madonna of Miracles is a Roman Catholic Marian sanctuary located in Corbetta, province of Milan, Lombardy, Italy. The sanctuary is dedicated to the Madonna of the Miracles, whose miraculous frescoed image, known as Madonna di Corbetta, was declared in 1955 to be the patron of the Magentino area in 1955 by the then archbishop of Milan and future pope Paul VI.
The Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin of the Sorrows of Rho is a Roman Catholic Marian shrine just outside the historic center of the town of Rho, region of Lombardy, Italy. The church is under the administration of the Oblates of Saints Ambrose and Charles.
The Sanctuary of the Madonna del Ruscello, also known as Santa Maria del Ruscello or the Santuario di Maria Santissima del Ruscello dei Donatori di Sangue is a Baroque-style, Roman Catholic church located on Piazza A. Xerry De Caro #13 in the town of Vallerano, province of Viterbo, region of Lazio, Italy.
The Santuario di Santa Maria di Piazza is located in the historic center of Busto Arsizio, Italy, where an earlier church dedicated to the Virgin Mary stood, which in turn had replaced a chapel dating back to the time of Christianization. This Marian shrine was quickly built between 1515 and 1522.
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