Sanctuary of the Madonna dei Miracoli

Seven days later, on May 7, 1486, the first healing occurred: Stefano Cavaccione from Zimella was healed following prayers addressed to the Virgin of Lonigo after a serious riding accident that left him disabled. From the very beginning, popular devotion manifested itself vigorously and assiduously, with the arrival of pilgrims, testamentary donations for the reconstruction of the church, large devotional processions organized by communities in the territory, and offerings of ex-votos, offered to the

Madonna, now popularly known as the Madonna dei Miracoli of Lonigo.

The thaumaturgic fame of the Madonna of Lonigo was immediately consolidated, thanks to the work of the Olivetans. The monks played a key role in the renewal of the sanctuary and in spreading devotion to the sacred image, which developed well beyond the boundaries of the territory to assume a national dimension, exploiting the network of monasteries of the order that was based at the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore (Siena). The feasts of the Annunciation (March 25), the Assumption (August 15), and the Nativity of Mary (September 8) assumed ever greater importance, because important fairs were held at the sanctuary in conjunction with these celebrations.

Already in the first decades of the 16th century, pilgrims and testimonies of devotion from other Italian regions were numerous, confirmed by documentation and contemporary historians. In 1510 the Roman noblewoman Angiola came to Lonigo from Rome to ask for healing from breast cancer.

Gian Giacomo Trivulzio dedicated an altar in his mausoleum in the Basilica of San Nazaro Maggiore in Milan to the Virgin of Lonigo, certainly known to him following military campaigns in the territory, adorning it with a canvas painting depicting the Lonigo image. Impressed in the memory of 17th-century Vicenza historians was the procession of Federico Gonzaga, who in 1520 reached the Madonna of Lonigo from Mantua with his court, leaving precious vestments as a gift, unfortunately now lost.

The Sanctuary of Lonigo had become one of the great Marian centers of the Veneto. Pope Paul V also honored the Image in 1618 with a triple crown of gold, pearls, and precious stones.

Devotion to the Madonna of Lonigo continued through the centuries, until the suppressions of the Venetian Senate in 1768 also affected the Lonigo monastery, closed in 1771, so much so that in 1773 the nobleman Marco Balbi Valier purchased the church and monastery taken from the monks; the entire complex remained under the control of this family until the late 19th century. These events, together with the establishment of the parish in 1955, relegated the great devotion of previous centuries to a more strictly local sphere, clearly and immediately perceptible from the late 18th century onward in the drastic decline in the number of ex-votos donated and preserved in the sanctuary.

From an architectural standpoint, the building qualifies as one of the most interesting 15th–16th-century architectures in the Vicenza territory for the grandeur and Renaissance balance of its proportions. The expansion of the sacred building began immediately after the miracle, so much so that the new church was inaugurated as early as September 1488. The large structure of clear Renaissance imprint, traditionally attributed to Lorenzo da Bologna and Alvise Lamberti da Montagnana, developed around the miraculous image, grafting onto the primitive Gothic church. The south side is characterized by an elegant Lombard façade carved in Vicenza stone attributed to Lamberti. The internal decorative apparatus is generally attributable to the circle of Lombard sculptors active in the main churches of Vicenza between the 15th and 16th centuries.

The focal point of the church is the chapel-sanctuary that protects the miraculous fresco, embedded in the right wall of the small apse. The chapel is enriched by an accumulation of decorations that have transformed and embellished the space, harmoniously overlapping from the late 15th century through the entire 19th century. Noteworthy are the beautiful 15th-century gilded red marble pergola attributed to Lamberti and the Baroque stucco decoration of Veronese origin on the vault that covers the previous mid-16th-century fresco decoration attributed to Domenico Brusasorci, today only partially visible in the upper lunette of the back wall.

In 1887 these stuccoes were extensively restored under the direction of the painter Rocco Pittaco, who was also commissioned to paint the two monochromes with Stories of the Sanctuary on the north wall of the chapel and to prepare the cartoon for the mosaic inserted above the chapel altar that reproduces the famous image of the Madonna.

The main nave is decorated in the apse of the high altar with painted Lombard-style architectures with a spectacular trompe-l’oeil effect (ca. 1720–1730), creating a sumptuous frame for the altarpiece of the Assumption by Francesco Montemezzano (1593).