Sanctuary of the Madonna of the Mountain
The Sanctuary dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary Assumed, known as Madonna del Monte, is located in a small enchanting spot on top of a hill not far from the center of Sommacampagna.
It originated from the ruins of a fortress built by King Berengar before the year 1000, among which an fresco of a Madonna with the Child Jesus was visible.
Towards the end of the 12th century, some hermits chose this place as their residence and, over time, embraced the religious practice of Saint Francis, adapting the remains of the tower of the hermitage into a church-sanctuary.
It is said that in 1220, the poor man of Assisi arrived on this hill and found a community that quickly became the first community of Franciscan Minor Friars probably in all of Veneto.
In the following century, it was abandoned due to frequent raids caused by the wars of the time and remained in oblivion until the 15th century, when it was entrusted to the Franciscan Tertiary Giovanni da Busseto of Cremona, who helped to restore it to prominence.
During the plague of 1630, it was transformed into a lazaretto and cemetery for the infected. After the plague, the Sanctuary underwent the typical sanitary measures of the era, which consisted of whitewashing the walls. Only after a restoration have the frescoes reappeared.
In the 17th century, the Sanctuary passed to private owners who, after a few years, donated it to the Minor Friars of San Fermo Maggiore, but after a century, due to a dispute with the parish priest, it was suppressed and sold to private individuals.
After the Napoleonic confiscations, the church again passed to private owners; today it is no longer used for worship.
