In Ponte Nossa, in Campolongo, we find the Sanctuary of Madonna delle Lacrime, also called "Madonna di Campolongo".
It is the first lacrimation of blood from a Marian image duly documented in the history of the Universal Church: according to tradition, on June 2nd, 1511, a shepherdess from the village staring at the picture, saw the face of the Madonna change to tear blood. The miraculous image of Our Lady is still kept in the Sanctuary, along with the sixteenth-century polyptych attributed to the Vivarini workshop and several votive tablets dedicated to Our Lady, tangible signs of popular belief that have made the Sanctuary of Ponte Nossa one of the most important destinations in the Bergamo area for Marian pilgrimages.
However, what captures the most attention is certainly the long embalmed crocodile placed above the right-hand entrance: tradition has it that the great reptile was a gift from a merchant at the end of the sixteenth century.
In Ponte Nossa, in Campolongo, we find the Sanctuary of Madonna delle Lacrime, also called "Madonna di Campolongo".
It is the first lacrimation of blood from a Marian image duly documented in the history of the Universal Church: according to tradition, on June 2nd, 1511, a shepherdess from the village staring at the picture, saw the face of the Madonna change to tear blood. The miraculous image of Our Lady is still kept in the Sanctuary, along with the sixteenth-century polyptych attributed to the Vivarini workshop and several votive tablets dedicated to Our Lady, tangible signs of popular belief that have made the Sanctuary of Ponte Nossa one of the most important destinations in the Bergamo area for Marian pilgrimages.
However, what captures the most attention is certainly the long embalmed crocodile placed above the right-hand entrance: tradition has it that the great reptile was a gift from a merchant at the end of the sixteenth century.
