Sanctuary of the Madonna del Dosso

The church stands on an incredible mound in the flat Po Plain. According to tradition, in the early 17C, the workers of a faulty kiln received grace after imploring the Madonna, depicted in a venerated painting conserved at the time in a shrine close to the kiln and still kept in the Sanctuary. The picture was taken three times to the parish church but kept reappearing on a poplar tree near the shrine so the local population constructed a mound on the spot chosen by the Virgin Mary and built a sanctuary there. Its austere external appearance in unfaced brick contrasts with the luminous and elegant Baroque interior. A 19C copy of Titian’s Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the counter-facade links the episode to 21 November, the date of the local festival and when the church commemorates the presentation of Mary in the Temple.