The Sanctuary of the Graces
info: www.santuariodellegraziecurtatone.it

Seven kilometres from Mantua, in the little hamlet of Grazie (meaning the miracles) by the Mincio River rose an oratory with the sacred image of the Madonna, submitted around 1390 to the care of the Franciscan monks, preferred by the noble Gonzaga family of Mantua. The Marquis Francesco, who may have undertaken a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, commissioned the erection of the Church, built between 1399 and 1406, possibly by the architect Bartolino da Novara, who planned the Castle of St. George in Mantua.

The occasion for erecting the Sanctuary was the end of a pestilence, as an ex-voto, thanks to the intercession of the Madonna. Mariolatry has a long tradition in the whole territory of the province, but it was mixed with country traditions of pagan origin. In this marshy area, people were forced to fight with the waters over the soil which they needed for their survival, fertility, diseases, floods and crops alternating with each other. Christian faith was mixed with the prayers that still were offered to the ancient divinities of nature and the moon, lady of the cycles of birth and death.

The Sanctuary became a wealth of treasures of sculptures, paintings, gold and silver anatomical ex vote, chiselled lamps, crowns. Today remains only what could not be robbed and the sanctuary is literally covered with ex voto, both of great aesthetic merit and of humble folk origin. The gothic façade, has a renaissance arcade with fifteen frescos representing episodes of the history of the city, connected with the miracles performed by the Virgin Mary.

The interior is a central nave with side chapels, mausoleums of illustrious persons like Baldassar Castiglione. It is the inside of the church which stuns the visitor with a stuffed crocodile and a woodwork along the nave with 80 niches, 53 of them contain a sculpture, 27 are empty. The sculptured series of large natural looking statues, is made of cloth and sheets glued together in layers – papier maché and represent believers of different rank and epochs, who testify to the miraculous virtues of the Madonna, creating in the Sanctuary a uniquely dark and strange atmosphere.

The woodwork is painted in Pompeian red and there are also ex voto decorations like hands, hearts, great and small boils, facial masks, babies in swaddling clothes, eyes, winged cherubs and small heads forming garlands and strange geometric shapes, all derived from a rich imagination. The wax used for these decorations is commonly used in churches, using the remains of the candles burnt by the faithful.
In the sanctuary 130 votive tablets are preserved, residual of thousands, without counting the embroidered quadrettis, hearts of various materials.
The decorations make one think of the churches of Latin America. The pilgrim who comes here looking for answers to his or her restlessness and afflictions is invited to strengthen the understanding of his faith and trust. The Virgin Mary welcomes him and intercedes from heaven. The hope of salvation is not in vain, as testified by the number of ex-votos and statues among the wood carvings, the altar of salvation reminds them that sufferings on earth are temporary and will give way for the faithful to eternal happiness.

The liveliness of the popular culture, between 1500 and 1600, is also mystical, esoteric and magical, in contrast to the courtly and extravagant nature of official culture. Today there still is a tradition of covering on foot a long distance to arrive here, especially on the 15th of August, in a genuine popular enthusiasm, by the meeting and competition of the street painters, called in Italy “Madonnari”. The artists create great masterpieces on the large square and around a big local market which is still visited by thousands of people that day.

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