Madonna dei Campi, Religious architectural complex in Stezzano, Italy.
Madonna dei Campi is a church complex in Stezzano, Lombardy, with an interior decorated by paintings and sculptural works depicting biblical scenes across its walls and altars. The spaces display religious imagery that spans different artistic periods.
An 11th-century field shrine with a Madonna image stood here; after a reported apparition to a farm woman it was enlarged, and in 1518 Andrea Previtali painted the Adoration of the Magi. Following the 1586 apparitions to Bartolomea Bucarelli and Dorotea Battistoni and a spring deemed miraculous, the first church was built. Enrico Galbiati added two side aisles and changed the orientation between 1882 and 1892, and the external porticoes were built in 1937–1939.
The sanctuary is also called Madonna della Preghiera because the two girls who saw the apparition in 1586 described a woman in a dark dress and white mantle holding a prayer book, her gaze turned to heaven. Each year the Marian apparitions and the crowning of the statue are celebrated with religious services.
The sanctuary stands at the end of a tree-lined avenue, preceded by a large grassy forecourt enclosed by a fence; the side portico holds the Stations of the Cross. The facade faces the forecourt, and the two lesser side entrances flank the main portal. The annual feast days mark the apparitions of 12 July 1586 and the coronation of the statue on 5 July 1896.
The 1518 Adoration of the Magi by Andrea Previtali hangs in the sanctuary, painted in the early years of the 16th century. The original miraculous fresco of the Madonna and Child was moved into the old presbytery, which became a chapel dedicated to the Virgin after the 1882-1892 works.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,128 contributors worldwide.