The Sanctuary of the Madonna del Ponte was built in 1573, a year after the miraculous apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“It was August 15th, the day sacred to the triumphal Assumption of Mary into heaven, and a poor girl had gone early in the morning to the fountain of the bridge to draw water; when a vision of paradise flooded her heart with an arcane joy she had never experienced. Among those clear waters swam beautiful, placid, sweet, resplendent, the lovely figure of the Queen of Paradise. The news of the apparition spread through the city in a flash, and everyone flocked to the little fountain that had the good fortune to receive the lovely features of Mary and her Divine Son”.
However, not everyone was permitted to see her. Only those in God’s grace could witness the miraculous apparition.
The painter who created the masterpiece inside the new church was not particularly famous but was divinely inspired.
He was asked to portray the figure rising from the water, fearing that the vision would disappear soon. Only after the painting was finished did the vision disappear.
Today, we can still admire the masterpiece enclosed in a silver “machine”, a sort of monumental frame, placed in the centre of the apse.
Inside the sanctuary, you can find the ancient source of the apparition, which still provides miraculous water.
Additionally, there is an 18th-century processional “machine” and a painting by Antonino Ragona that depicts the miraculous event and the location where it occurred.
