23010 Piantedo SO
The Sanctuary of Valpozzo lies along a road used for centuries by those traveling up the valley from the northern tip of Lake Como avoiding the valley floor, which was swampy until reclamation work in the mid-19th century.
There were also roads on the south-facing slopes on the other side of the valley, which enjoyed the lion’s share of sun, but Piantedo is the gateway to Valtellina.
Like many sanctuaries, the one in Valpozzo has its foundation legend. While traveling along the Via Scalotta, a wayfarer was attacked by two brigands. Wounded, he was able to escape into the woods, where he fell to his knees by a stream and invoked the help of the Virgin. Mary suddenly appeared, sending the terrified miscreants fleeing, and healed the man with water from the stream. Having learned of the event, the local inhabitants prepared to build a chapel at that point as a sign of gratitude. However, three times the construction materials were mysteriously found further down the slope, near a spring, as if to indicate the proper place to build the chapel. Today a votive aedicula stands at the original point along the trail.
The miraculous episode is illustrated on the right wall of the presbytery in a large scene painted in 1939 by the Lombard artist Pino Roveda, who is also the author of the Pentecost on the opposite wall and the Evangelists on the pendentives of the vault.
The late-Medieval origin of the old chapel is attested in a fresco of the Madonna with Child, Saints James and Anthony the Abbot, and Purgatorial Souls dating to the 15th century, which coincides with the first permanent settlements in the area and with the year 1473 engraved into the oldest bell. Over the centuries, the image was reproduced on scattered houses in the area.
The original church, destination for processions from nearby villages, was enlarged in the 17th and 18th centuries to invoke protection against the plague and again in the 19th and 20th centuries. The bell tower (1919-1924), erected as a sign of gratitude for the end of World War I, stands on the highest point in the area, marking the mouth of Valtellina. Once drained, the broad valley floor was ideal for the development of industry and commerce.
The only remnant of the old chapel is the old venerated image in a black marble frame serving as the altarpiece. A scenographic Trinity develops around it, with the souls in Purgatory and a double procession of angels and the blessed, painted in 1936 by Eliseo Fumagalli of Delebio.
Numerous ex-votos are displayed near the presbytery, bearing witness to a devotion that continues to this day. There is also a fountain on the side of the church, consisting of a simple basin with the engraved initials AM (Ave Maria) in remembrance of the miraculous spring.
