Calizzano
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Grace (or Madonna delle Grazie)
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Grace (Santuario di Nostra Signora delle Grazie) for centuries has been a pilgrimage destination due to the ancient icon Madonna che allatta il Bambino (Nursing Madonna, celebrated annually with a popular procession. Originally a parish church, this site served as a refuge for travelers and a strategic defense point over the centuries. The surviving external portico houses a precious example of late Gothic painting.
On the road between Calizzano and Finale Ligure, in the province of Savona, on a hill west of the Bormida River, stands the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Grace (Madonna delle Grazie), otherwise known as the community’s former parish church, next to the cemetery. The town of Calizzano is located at the crossroads of important roads, which from the ports of Albenga and Savona ascend toward the Piedmontese hills of the Langhe and then continue toward the markets of Turin, Carmagnola, and Racconigi. It is also on the most popular pilgrimage routes.
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Grace (Santuario di Nostra Signora or Madonna delle Grazie)
The ancient parish church was originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary and was listed as early as the early Middle Ages among the properties of the Benedictine monks of San Pietro of Varatella, in the nearby Toirano Valley. The first mention of it dates back to an entry in the Chronicle of the same abbey, but later jurisdiction passed to the Bishop of Albenga and finally to the nearby abbey complex of Saints Peter and Paul in Ferrania. Even during the 16th century, the church was remembered as dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, still linked to Ferrania, and was called “extra locum” (outside the inhabited area): in fact, the sacraments were now officiated in the new parish church located in the village beyond the Bormida River, under the name of San Lorenzo.
It was originally a modest chapel that served as a refuge and landing place for wayfarers traveling along pilgrimage and trade routes. The parish church also served as a strategic defense point for the Del Carretto family, lords of the area from the 13th century onward. They controlled the passes to and from Piedmont, and the remains of their defensive castle can still be admired today at the top of the village of Calizzano, across the Bormida River.
The original parish church is now partially altered in its architectural and decorative layout, but fortunately it retains a small square-based portico at the far left of the façade. Its vaults were entirely frescoed by an anonymous, wandering painter and his collaborators, known in scholarly literature as the Master of Roccaverano, who also left traces of his work here.
With the help of his workshop, the anonymous painter reproduces the subject of the Last Judgment in a small space. The four lunettes reveal representations of Christ in a mandorla (almond shape), seated with his right hand raised, devoutly assisted by a group of female saints and the presence of Saint John the Baptist with other saints, dressed in armor and bearing military standards. Opposite Christ is the scene accompanying the divine judgment, with Saint Michael the Archangel weighing souls, accompanied by an angel and a devil (the latter now unrecognizable due to paint loss). The iconographic narrative is enriched by a series of decorative elements (lettuce leaves and colorful festoons) framing the scenes and the vaulted structure, along with the choice of specific, limited pigment hues and a predilection for a specific type of clothing and hairstyle. These elements, like trademarks, allow us to identify the artistic work of this group of painters in other works of art from the Bormida Gotica region.
At the feet of the saints appear groups of hooded figures in penitential poses, some of whom display bloody shoulders as a result of self-flagellation. The nearby oratory of the Disciplinanti Bianchi, a lay association with charitable functions that was widespread in the late Middle Ages, is dedicated to the devotion of Saint John the Baptist. Their presence in this fresco, which stylistically dates to the 1480s or 1490s, testifies to the charitable work of the Disciplinanti before the confraternity’s documents have so far provided evidence of it.
The Cultural Context
The Shrine of Our Lady of Grace (Il Santuario di Nostra Signora delle Grazie) has been a pilgrimage destination for centuries for its icon of the Nursing Madonna, celebrated annually on July 2nd with a heartfelt and well-attended procession.
This ancient icon is singularly significant, retaining its power of attraction for both pilgrims and scholars for centuries, despite countless vicissitudes: the image, originally embedded in a column of the church, survived the fire set by Napoleon’s troops during their retreat toward Piedmont and the subsequent reconstructions that rendered the building’s medieval appearance almost unrecognizable. The icon’s popularity is such that it can be found replicated in other locations in the town center.
Under the portico of the ancient parish church of Santa Maria, agreements were made between local lords and disputes between the community and the rectory were resolved, as in the early 14th century when the men of Calizzano signed the submission to the Abbey of Ferrania.
On the opposite bank of the Bormida River, within the medieval village of Calizzano, another portico was the site of the dynamics of town life: that of the Church of San Lorenzo, a primitive noble chapel of the Carretto family, which hosted the signing of the Conventions between the men of Calizzano and the feudal lords in 1444. This was an act of loyalty and confirmation of the marquises’ privileges, but also a granting of new prerogatives and freedoms to the community, which could now use the ovens, fish from the Bormida River, and use its waters to irrigate the fields without paying duties.