Mantova Curtatone: sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Mary delle grazie(of graces).
The Sanctuary of the Beata Vergine delle Grazie is located at about 9 km from the city of Mantua and at about 30 km from the Lake Garda, in the picturesque village of Grazie di Curtatone, along the road to Cremona. The most remote origins of the Sanctuary date back to about 1000 when poor people erected a shrine containing a painting of the Virgin and Child. The boatmen who, with their boats travelled along the marsh of the Mincio every day, in order to obtain food consisting in those days of the lake fish and wild birds, were devoted to the sacred image and stopped in front of it to pray the Virhgin Mary. The step from the prayers to the miracles was so short and given the increasing flow of pilgrims, they decided to build a chapel and to entrust it to the care of the Franciscan friars. In 1399 Francesco Gonzaga erected in that place a massive basilica as a votive offering to the Madonna delle Grazie for the cessation of the plague that caused countless victims. The task was entrusted to the architect Bartolino da Novara, and cost the considerable sum of 30,000 gold crowns. An inscription records the plague, the vote and the construction of the Sanctuary. The consecration of the temple took place August 15, 1406, the feast of the Assumption, at the hands of the bishop of Cremona Nicholas Tinti with a solemn rite in the presence of Francesco Gonzaga. Read more :
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Keywords: curtatone, devotion, devoutness, devozione, faith, fede, godliness, gonzaga, grazie, italy, le, lombardy, lugris2, madonna, madonnari, mantova, maria, mary, mincio, pellegrinaggio, piety, pilgrimage, pilgrims, religion, sanctuary, tourism, travel, vergine, virgin
