The shrines scattered along the Boot are many, but the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Crown is one of the most evocative. Let’s find out why not miss this shrine if you are close to Verona.
Verona is a city of a thousand attractions, but not far away it delights the view and the spirit with a truly impressive place. We are talking about the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Crown.
This church is the ideal destination for those looking for a place to pray and for those who want to enjoy the treasures preserved and the enchanting panorama of this place.
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Sanctuary of Madonna della Corona: how to reach it
The Sanctuary rises to over seven hundred seventy meters, dominating the surrounding area from above. However it is not difficult to reach it, especially if you take the path from Spiazzi to the Sanctuary of Madonna della Corona.
The hamlet of Caprino Veronese is located a little higher than the Sanctuary, allowing you to arrive by car and then reach it on foot. Where to park at the Sanctuary of Madonna della Corona? Several parking spaces are available.
After leaving the car you can walk along an asphalt road or a downhill staircase with which you can admire the Stations of the Cross in bronze and the reproduction of the tomb where Jesus was placed after his death. Alternatively, always starting from Spiazzi, you can take (for a fee) a shuttle bus to the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Corona. You can not reach it on the bike.
If you come from Brentino Belluno then you can take the Path of Hope that connects the valley with the heights of Mount Baldo, including sanctuary. In this case you find yourself walking an uphill path in which fatigue leaves room for wonder thanks to the stations of the Mysteries, the Bridge of Linden and the wonders of the landscape.
How long is the Path of Hope? How many steps are there to reach Our Lady of the Crown? Immersed in the woods, the uphill path is about two and a half kilometers long and has over a thousand and five hundred steps. It takes an average of two hours.
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The origins of the Sanctuary
The origins of the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Corona are rooted in a local legend, according to which it all began with the miraculous discovery of a statue of the Pietà on the edge of the rocky cavity (although it was guarded from the beginning in the island of Rhodes).
Why miraculous? The statue would have been moved to that inaccessible place by an angelic intervention to avoid its confiscation by the Turks of Suleiman II. To find the statue would have been some inhabitants of the area attracted by a bright light and an angelic choir. They decided to build a church in the place where the statue was found.
The news of what happened became so popular that pilgrims reached the chapel. For this reason it was decided to create an easier path digging in the rock.
Flying over the legend, considering the Vesperbild style from beyond the Alps and the dating of the sculpture, it seems more likely that the statue was donated by Lodovico Castelbarco around the fifteenth century
Apparently, the legend derives from the order of the Knights Gerosolimitani, also called “Rhodes”, to whom was entrusted the isolated dwelling dedicated to the Madonna that housed the hermits.
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Why is it called the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Crown?
The Sanctuary had been used as a hermitage where hermits linked to the abbey of San Zeno in Verona, before becoming a place of worship and pilgrimage.
Always in the form of a refuge, it passed under the Order of the Knights of Malta before and after the Diocese of Verona. Only at the end of the fifteenth century began work on the construction of the church.
However, the construction of the church would have been useless without an easy access and so were dug steps in the rock and built a bridge (the “Bridge of Lime”).
Why is it called the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Crown? When the Knights of Malta rebuilt the building and enlarged it over the old one, they renamed it in this way because of the surrounding rock that makes a circular tour of the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Corona.
From that moment on, the church underwent several extensions and rebuildings: the previous church remained incorporated under the presbytery while the new church was built above, dug into the rock and enlarged a couple of meters towards the square in front.
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The treasures of the Sanctuary of Madonna della Corona
The Sanctuary of the Madonna della Corona is set in the rock and seems almost a work of Nature, as it is suspended halfway between earth and heaven.
The rock embraces the terrace of the Sanctuary and from there you can contemplate the panorama and the view of the overhanging Adige valley.
After the last staircase, at the foot of the church, you can admire a neo-Gothic building embellished with decorations and marble and flanked by a bell tower more than thirty meters high.
Once inside, you are in front of three imposing naves, but you are immediately attracted by the left wall made of rock (as well as the apse), the representation of the Holy Shroud and the right wall on which are placed the votive tablets offered by the pardoned as a sign of gratitude.
The marble sculptures of the sculptor Ugo Zannoni, in style with figures placed outside depicting Saint John the Evangelist and Saint Mary Magdalene, do not go unnoticed.
Above the high altar you can see the statue of the Madonna della Corona with its seventy centimeters in height and the Latin inscription that specifies the benefactor and the date.
You can also admire a fresco that reproduces a Madonna with Child, the oldest depicting the Madonna della Corona (which with its fourteenth-century dating refutes the traditional dating attributed to the statue).
Taking the Scala Santa you can reach the Chapel of the Confessions, located just below the main church. There you can admire the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows standing.
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Crown is open every day from 8.00 to 18.30 from November to March and from 7.00 to 19.30 from April to October.
To visit the Sanctuary of Madonna della Corona you do not need to pay any ticket: admission is free and free.
Sanctuary of Madonna della Corona: Where to sleep
You can visit the Sanctuary and its surroundings (such as Bardolino or Verona) by staying in one of the nearby accommodations: hotels, B&Bs and farmhouses.
Copertina: sentierodimaria
