Sandigliano (Biella)- Sanctuary of the Virgin of the Boscazzo
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The Sanctuary of the Virgin of the Boscazzo (also known more simply as the Church or the Oratory of the Virgin of the Boscazzo) is located in the fraction Boscazzo, rather far from the town center. The small sanctuary was born as a fifteenth-century oratory dedicated to the saints Fabiano and Sebastian and to the Virgin of the Boscazzo. In the sixteenth century, however, the dedication to the two saints was lost and only that to the Virgin remained, a fact that reflected the growing importance of the Marian cult as an element of distinction from Lutheranism. In the seventeenth century it appears that various miracles occurred in the church. Perhaps as a result of this, and also of the consequent increased influx of pilgrims, it was decided to build a new larger church in place of the original oratory. The works took a long time, so much so that even in 1672 the new building was described as not completed. In 1698 a fresco of the Virgin present on a wall of the original building and attributed to Gaspare da Ponderano was moved and used as altarpiece of the new church. In 1785 the bell tower was erected and more or less at the same time the portico in front of the entrance was added.
The church has a simple structure, practically a rectangular building with a semicircular apse. In fact, the facade looks almost out of place in its sumptuousness. Vertically marked by pilasters it comprises two orders divided by an entablature and it is enriched by four (empty) niches and by a large triangular pediment at the top. The portico in front of the central door is supported by four stone columns and looking closer it is easy to recognize that it was added at a later time.
Also inside there is simplicity not without elements of refinement. The walls are separated from the ceiling by a thick entablature and marked vertically by pilasters which alternate with blind arches. The apse is separated from the nave by a large retable with an architectural structure which on the sides is connected to the wall through two extensions equiped with a door. In this way the small choir also acts as a sacristy. As already mentioned, the retable of the altar houses, as an altarpiece, the fresco of the Virgin which was originally on a wall of the old church. The fresco is attributed to Gaspare da Ponderano and therefore dates between the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century. However, it should be noted that it probably originally depicted an Adoration of the Child by the Virgin. In the Baroque period it was restored and modified to transform it into an Annunciation: the Child at the foot of the Virgin disappeared, the archangel on the left and the choir of angels in the upper part were added, with the consequent cancellation of much of the original background (of which now only a crenellated wall and the base of a tower can be seen).
Categories: Places of historical value of artistic value
Via Pietro Micca, 13876 Boscazzo BI |
Sanctuary of the Virgin of the Boscazzo: Further pictures in the section Photography |