FFB Monte S. Savino (Italy)

The custody. Since the first half of the 13th century, the place has belonged to the Camaldolese monks, to whom we owe the building of the present church and adjoining convent and who officiated at the sanctuary until 1808. After the brief interlude of Napoleonic rule, the church was reopened in 1816, but both the sanctuary and the convent came under the protection of the Minor Friars. They are still the owners of the complex today, although since 2007, it is the Franciscan Fraternity of Bethany that officiates at the sanctuary and lives in the convent.

The venerated image. Originally, popular devotion was directed to a frescoed image on the vault of the ancient chapel. You can still recognize the three overlapping orders of old paintings, of which only the last one, depicting the Assumption of the Virgin into Heaven, is still partially appreciable. Later (probably in the early 1400s), devotion passed to the Madonna and Child Enthroned, painted on a panel by Margaritone of Arezzo (late 13th century).

The church. The present three-nave church, which contains the frescoed chapel and the image on a panel, dates back to the early 1500s, as does the external loggia supported by hexagonal brick columns. The large space behind the old chapel, containing the choir and organ, received its current layout between the early and mid-1600s. The bell tower is attributed to Andrea Contucci, known as Sansovino (1460-1529).

Patron saint of the Autostrada del Sole. In 1964, the Madonna of the Vertighe was proclaimed Patron Saint of the Autostrada del Sole, and for this reason, too, she is the destination of uninterrupted pilgrimages from all parts of Italy. The pastoral visits of Aretine bishops, documented as far back as the 16th century, show how the sanctuary of the Vertighe has always been a place of pilgrimage and prayer, especially for the population of the Valdichiana. Still today, Santa Maria delle Vertighe, the patron saint of the Autostrada del Sole, is a call for many Christians, a watchful presence for the valley, a place of silence and recollection that invites prayer.

The works. The main works that can be admired inside the sanctuary, in addition to the venerated Madonna and Child Enthroned surrounded by four stories of the Virgin (Annunciation, Nativity, Adoration of the Magi and Assumption into Heaven) attributed to Margaritone of Arezzo (13th century), are the Crucifix painted on wood by Lorenzo Monaco (1370-1425) and the diptych of 1520 depicting an alleged Saint Savino (or perhaps Saint Augustine) and Saint Benedict, by Ridolfo di Domenico del Ghirlandaio. Furthermore, on the left side wall there is the Assumption of the Virgin into Heaven (Orazio Della Porta, 1590) and a depiction of the translation of the Chapel of the Vertighe, probably the work, at least in part, of the same author. The Nativity of the Virgin Mary (Santini, 1627) is frescoed on the right wall.