SS300, 23030 Valfurva SO
In 1660, the builder Stefano Panizza from Trentino left the nearby Val di Sole and followed his father-in-law to Valtellina.
The two established a successful family business renovating existing buildings and designing new ones. One of the latter is the “Madonnina” of Uzza. Panizza’s name is cited on the inside front wall in the cartouche above the door commemorating the consecration of the church on July 15, 1717 by the Bishop of Como Giusepe Olgiati.
Work on the church began in 1705. It was built near a “sacred and miraculous image, known as the Madonnina”. It was detached from the crumbling wall of an old house and placed on the back wall, above the altar stone. It is a 16th-century Nursing Madonna with St. Joseph; the same subject is replicated externally in the niche above the lovely baroque portal.
Considering the small amount of space between the road and the foot of the mountain, the octagonal floor plan must have seem the most fitting for the place. The outer walls are all similar, each with a central niche, giving the tiny sanctuary a touch of modernity. Inside, the devotional message is conveyed by lovely frescoes on six walls, paid for by the parishioners who emigrated from the plain around Brescia to work as cobblers. They are six scenes from the life of Mary: the Nativity of Mary, the Presentation of Mary, the Annunciation, the Birth of Jesus, the Pietà, the Assumption of Mary.
Above the massive cornice, the cupola catches the eye for the vivacity of the painting: eight bronze-colored atlantes support the vertices of the lantern, allowing natural light to pour into the church. Each side of the lantern features a saint in an elaborate painted frame and a rich array of symbols and ornaments: putti, garlands, musical instruments, vases, busts, mascarons, and scallop shells.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the church of the Madonna della Misericordia became a new locus of Marian devotion in the area. Prior to its construction, the faithful of Uzza had only the small church of San Rocco, built in 1491. The Cammino Mariano passes right next to it. In the recess above the doorway you can admire a beautiful Madonna and Child with Saints Roch and Sebastian.
