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Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes
- Category What see Lake Garda and Verona
Historical notes, where it is located and curiosities about the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in Verona.
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- History and where the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is located
- Interior and what to see at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes
History and where the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is located
The Sanctuary of the Madonna di Lourdes is located on the San Leonardo hill in Verona, from where you have a wonderful view of the city below.
Where the sanctuary is now located, they were located from the 12th century. the ancient monastery of San Leonardo, from which the name of the hill derives, and its church, dedicated to the protector of prisoners.
This was sold at the end of the eighteenth century and replaced in 1838 by Fort San Leonardo, wanted by the Archduke Maximilian of Austria as a defense construction. It was later used as a political prison from 1943 to 1945 by the Nazi-Fascists.
Originally, however, the sanctuary was located in the complex of the Stimate, in the Cittadella area.
When, in April 1945, it was destroyed by a bomb, the statue of the Virgin made in 1908 was miraculously unharmed. The order of the Stigmatins, a few years later, decided to erect a sanctuary where the Austrian fort of " San Leonardo ", thus making a place strongly linked to war, a place of renewed peace and blessing. Following the project produced by the architect Paolo Rossi de 'Paoli, the sanctuary came to light in 1958 from the fort.
Interior and what to see at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes
The new circular church was later decorated with numerous paintings by the Roman painter Aronne Del Vecchio and marvelous bas-reliefs depicting the Mysteries of the Rosary by sculptor Vittorio Colbertaldo.
The structure is also linked to a legend: it is said that a woman, mother of three children and suffering from a serious ischial disease, had continuous pains in her legs and was very depressed for the state in which she was. She went every day to get water from the fountain of the new sanctuary and as a rule she prayed to the Immaculate Virgin.
One morning, her physical condition deteriorated. As her last prayer before her death, she wanted the bishop to bless her during mass. She found herself praying constantly lying on the bed and all of a sudden the sufferings she suffered were no longer there; she was healed completely.
Its interior has undergone several renovations. Today it is possible to visit the Chapel of Adoration, the stained glass windows and the statues that have occupied the sanctuary since the early 1900s.
