Nascita di una devozione. Il caso di Santa Maria dei Miracoli a Lonigo
10.6092/issn.1973-9494/4752
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1973-9494
4752
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Linda Marcheluzzo
Conservation Science in Cultural Heritage
local history
Birth of a devotion. The case of “Santa Maria dei miracoli” in Lonigo
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Articles
2014-12-20
2015-02-25
2014-12-20
2015-11-02
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CSCH
Linda Marcheluzzo
2014/12/20
10.6092/issn.1973-9494/4752
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1973-9494
local history
en
338
VOLPE A., gennaio 2004, Frammenti di un’allegoria agostiniana. Quattro ‘filosofi’ di Dalmasio, in Paragone/Arte , anno LV, Terza serie, n° 53 (647)
Birth of a devotion. The case of “Santa Maria dei miracoli” in Lonigo
https://conservation-science.unibo.it/article/download/4752/4240
14
B    IRTH OF A DEVOTION. THE CASE OF “SANTA MARIA
     DEI MIRACOLI” IN LONIGO

   Linda Marcheluzzo•
   Master’s Degree in “Storia e conservazione delle opere d’arte”
   Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna (sede di Ravenna), Italy

   Keywords: medieval painting, popular devotion, order of Benedictines, local history




  1. Introduction

   In the village of Lonigo (Vicenza), a small church dedicated to St. Peter in Lamen-
tese (whose ancient origins are lost in history) once stood in the same place where the
Sanctuary of the Madonna dei Miracoli is found today. The fortunes of the Church of
Santa Maria dei Miracoli are connected to a murder, committed on May 1st, in 1486,
by two shoemakers who went from Verona to the market in Lonigo. On the way back,
the two men killed a third colleague and then sought refuge in the church, then known
as San Pietro Lamentese, where they saw the Virgin Mary, painted on the wall, miracu-
lously move her hand to her face, to then stay in that position. Following this first ex-
traordinary event, it would appear that the Virgin of Lonigo then manifested miraculous
healing powers. In a short time, the church became an important place of pilgrimage
and people not only came from the neighboring areas but also from distant towns, as
described in two seventeenth-century reports, by the monks Giandomenico Bertani
and Francesco Barbarano de’Mironi1, and written around the time of the miracle. Fol-




                                                                                                  CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
lowing these incidents the church took the name of Santa Maria dei Miracoli.

  2. The Church of San Pietro in Lamentese

    Although all documents relating to the church dedicated to Saint Peter in Lamen-
tese have been lost, the legend places its founding in the year 452, in memory of a
massacre carried out by the Huns. After this tragedy the population, who claimed to
hear constant laments, erected the building with the aim of making them cease. The
first official documentation of the church, however, dates to the tenth century, when it
was mentioned in connection with the Benedictine monks of the monastery of Santa
Maria in Organo in Verona, and with whom it had relations until 1762.
    In 1486, inside the Church of San Pietro Lamentese it was possible to observe a
mural fresco. It will probably never be known what was actually represented and how
big it was, since after the miracle of 1486, with the beginning of the numerous pilgrim-
ages , the monks felt the need to enlarge the building. This was accomplished thanks
to the substantial donations guaranteed by the worshippers.
    The architect asked to build the new, impressive nave of the church was Lorenzo
da Bologna, active in those years in Vicenza. He was assisted by Alvise Lamberti da
Montagnana, who worked on the lateral side and on the Cappella del Miracolo (Chapel

• Corresponding author: linda.marcheluzzo@gmail.com

                                                                                            323
                                                                                           of the Miracle). In addition to the central nave, the Chapels of St. Scolastica and St.
                                                                                           Francesca Romana were built, while the Church of St. Peter (San Pietro), or at least
                                                                                           a portion of it, was the foundation for the construction of the Cappella del Miracolo,
                                                                                           located to the right of the portal.
                                                                                              The rebuilding and decoration of the Church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli raise ques-
                                                                                           tions for the study of the iconography of the Madonna di Lonigo (Figure 1). In the ab-
                                                                                           sence of any historical evidence, the oldest existing description of the image is that of
                                                                                           Bertani Giandomenico dated 1605:


                                                                                                  “molti, che quivi erano di passaggio, entravano in detta Chiesa [S. Pietro] à far riverenze,
                                                                                              et oratione avanti una Imagine della Gloriosa Vergine dipinta nel muro, assai antica, et molto
                                                                                              divota, in atto di essere assonta in Cielo, con le mani congionte insieme, con gli occhi riguar-
                                                                                              danti in Cielo, con un libro in un braccio, et con un Christo in Croce dipinto sopra lei, la qual
                                                                                              Croce fatta di un tronco, era circondata da dodeci faccie, rappresentanti i dodeci Apostoli, in
                                                                                              altri piccioli cerchi di tronchi, et quivi stavano due Angeli inginocchiati.2”
L. Marcheluzzo - Birth of a devotion. The case of “Santa Maria dei miracoli” in Lonigo




                                                                                                           Figure 1. Anonymous, Madonna di Lonigo, 14th century, Lonigo
                                                                                                           (VI), Santa Maria dei Miracoli




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   3. The fresco of the Madonna di Lonigo: an unusual representation

    Today, this description cannot be fully verified, because of the poor condition of the
pictorial film of the fresco. In the central part of the fresco, inside a painted frame, it
is still possible to make out a figure wrapped in a cloak with traces of blue, the head
surrounded by a halo, sitting in the foreground on what appears to be a bench, as wide
as the edges of the frame. The features of the face, the clothes, the right hand and the
book mentioned in the description have disappeared. On the left side of the slightly
tilted face, there is an engraved protrusion that could correspond to the hand held in
front of the eye. Above it are some tondos, containing what appear to be eleven male
figures with halos, dressed in togas. There are eleven tondos arranged in a disorderly
fashion around a central space which is empty, in irregular rows of four, positioned
behind the bench; two are in the center and five are at the top. Next to the circle on
the right of the central portion, one of the figures, whose tondo cannot be made out, is
placed very near the neighboring one. At the top of the center is another circle which
probably contained the twelfth figure, but is so badly deteriorated it appears empty,
while in the circle on the far right only a halo is visible. The background, which, accord-
ing to the description and reproductions, should contain the tree of life, does not show
any trace of it. Only in the upper margin of the fresco a wavy green line can be seen. It
must have reached the legs of the crucifix, truncated by the marble frame that encloses
the picture in correspondence with the feet which are no longer distinct.



   3.1. The symbologies of the Madonna di Lonigo

   The image, on the whole, has a great number of symbols, that frequently have no




                                                                                                    CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
association with each other at all. Although the tree behind the Madonna di Lonigo is
one of the elements which, unfortunately, are no longer visible, its presence is attested
both by the text by Bertani3 and some successive reproductions of the fresco. What re-
mains on the wall of Santa Maria dei Miracoli, is only part of a green branch, in the up-
per margin of the painting, near the legs of the crucifix truncated by the marble frame.
The tree is a complex image, full of meanings and with multiple functions, adopted by
Christianity from its origins. Its role was initially purely ornamental, but in Romanesque
art it is used for iconographic reasons, with the aim of establishing formal relations
of correspondence, reaching its richest iconographic expression at the beginning of
the eleventh century. In particular, the tree serves a didactic and doctrinaire purpose,
being an immediate and effective diagram, useful to facilitate memory and encourage
meditation. Diagrams had been widely used in schools since the fifth century, as they
helped students to remember and understand, thus facilitating their logical processes4.
The main example of the use of the tree schema is found in the iconography of the
Lignum Vitae. This was a mystical representation of the Crucifixion stemming from the
identification of the Cross of Christ and the tree of life5, started by the Franciscans in
the sixteenth century and modeled on the homonymous booklet by St. Bonaventure da
Bagnoregio, Minister General of the Franciscan Order. The representation of the tree
also has genealogical meanings, as in the case of the tree of Jesse, but this does not
seem to be the case of the fresco of Lonigo since, among the painted branches are the
Apostles, and not the descendants of Christ’s ancestors.


                                                                                              325
                                                                                               The Virgin, the focal point of the miraculous image, occupied the centre of the por-
                                                                                           tion of the fresco under examination, even before the extraordinary events of 1486.
                                                                                           Covered by a cloak, sitting on what appears to be a bench, according to the legend,
                                                                                           the Virgin Mary, before the miracle, had both hands on her lap, the right hand clasping
                                                                                           a book. After the miracle, it seems she raised her left hand to her forehead6 (Figure
                                                                                           2). The raising of one’s hands to one’s face is generally associated with expressing
                                                                                           pain. In the fresco of Lonigo however the Virgin does not seem to express this kind
                                                                                           of suffering. The crucified Christ is positioned at a distance from his Mother and the
                                                                                           Apostles stand between them, in the branches. The people in the image, moreover, do
                                                                                           not seem to be part of a narrative scene, a particular episode involving the strong emo-
                                                                                           tional behavior of the characters. The Virgin has her back to the tree with the Apostles
                                                                                           and the Crucifixion in its branches and is sitting on the bench without looking towards
                                                                                           her crucified Son. The hand resting on her forehead might therefore have a different
                                                                                           meaning, connected to another element in the painting: a book. It is no longer visible,
                                                                                           but among the subjects represented in the fresco, it is the one that regularly reappears
                                                                                           in reproductions, including paintings and sculptures and in the majority of ex-votos, so
                                                                                           there is no doubt about its actual presence7.
L. Marcheluzzo - Birth of a devotion. The case of “Santa Maria dei miracoli” in Lonigo




                                                                                                          Figure 2. La Vergine e l’Apostolo Pietro (?), Anonymous, Madonna
                                                                                                          di Lonigo, fourteenth century, Lonigo (VI), Santa Maria dei Miracoli.



                                                                                               Mary caught in the act of reading is not a frequent subject in an era when women’s
                                                                                           education was neither common nor desired. In the Gospel, the Virgin is not described as
                                                                                           being educated but only modest and of low social standing, so it is uncertain whether she
                                                                                           was able to read. Theologians, however, did not conceive the idea of ​​the Madonna who,
                                                                                           as a descendant of King David, was illiterate. Consequently, and also thanks to the lack of
                                                                                           reliable references in the Gospels, they imagined her to be a scholar and loved reading,
                                                                                           just like a noble woman of the twelfth century, to such an extent that in representations of
                                                                                           the Annunciation she is often represented in the act of reading the Psalter or the Bible. In
                                                                                           Cesare Ripa’s text, Iconology, which however came out later than the period of execution of
                                                                                           the fresco and describes later traditions, the book appears in a number of allegorical figures
                                                                                           symbolizing study and erudition, in particular “Meditazione”, the iconography of meditation8.
                                                                                               The posture described in the text, the cheek supported by the hand, and the book in her


                                                                                     326
lap, is the same as that depicted in the fresco of the Virgin of Lonigo, probably a position for
reflection. Mary’s seating is equally particular: a bench (Figure 3). It is not unusual that the
Virgin is seated on a bench, but it is generally chosen if there is someone sitting next to her,
for example, Jesus, in the context of the Coronation.
    Professor Alessandro Volpe has recognized an affinity between the use of the bench
in this context, and in that of the “Allegory of Saint Augustine ‘Master of the Order’ “ by
Dalmasio, painted on glass9. The four philosophers Aristotle, Plato, Socrates and Sen-
eca are sitting in pairs on benches next to the figure of St. Augustine and are an integral
part of the allegory. In the fresco, the Virgin is alone, and the choice of the anonymous
author to depict her on a bench seems strange, given that in successive reproductions,
as in votive offerings, she is often seated on a throne. The particular seating arrange-
ment combined with the posture of uncertain significance, places the Virgin Mary in an
unusual context that does not seem to be that of a devotional icon, but rather, a symbolic
representation. Consequently, an image to reflect upon, rather than to worship.




                                                                                                         CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE




               Figure 3. La Vergine e gli Apostoli. Anonymous, Madonna
               di Lonigo, fourteenth century, Lonigo (VI), Santa Maria dei
               Miracoli.


   In the Lonigo fresco, between the figure of the Virgin and the legs of the crucifix,
no longer visible, are some characters inside tondos arranged in three rows placed


                                                                                                   327
                                                                                           at irregular heights. At the first count, the figures and tondos are eleven. However, it
                                                                                           is evident that the figure on the far right of the central row lacks the respective tondo
                                                                                           while, on the contrary, the tondo at the center of the upper row although damaged,
                                                                                           probably contained a character. The total number of figures represented among what
                                                                                           are assumed to be the branches of the tree of life, are twelve. The fact that they may
                                                                                           be the Apostles is suggested not only by the number, but also by the classic robes (a
                                                                                           trace of which remains in the preparatory yellow layer) associated with the followers of
                                                                                           Christ from the tenth century. Finally, at the top of the composition, though no longer
                                                                                           visible, there is a pelican in its nest, surrounded by its three babies. Despite the strong
                                                                                           symbolism of resurrection it carries, it is a component that gradually disappears from
                                                                                           the reproductions of the fresco after the miracle of 1486, along with the tree-like cross
                                                                                           and the less significant angels. Although the elements of the fresco of Santa Maria dei
                                                                                           Miracoli are clear in meaning when considered individually, as a whole they are not as
                                                                                           easy to decipher. In fact, an image can be interpreted in numerous ways, unless the
                                                                                           title or the context in which it is realized help to clarify its meaning10.


                                                                                              4. Birth of a new devotion: a study of the iconography of the Madonna di
L. Marcheluzzo - Birth of a devotion. The case of “Santa Maria dei miracoli” in Lonigo




                                                                                              Lonigo

                                                                                              After the miracle, the name of the Church of San Pietro Lamentese changed to
                                                                                           Santa Maria dei Miracoli and the painting too, took on a new name, Madonna dei
                                                                                           Miracoli or Madonna di Lonigo; the sole subject in both cases is the Virgin. Following
                                                                                           the manifestation of the Virgin Mary, the value of the Lonigo fresco changed: from a
                                                                                           unified image with a precise meaning that, whatever it may have been must have been
                                                                                           symbolic, became for its devotees, an iconic representation of the Virgin.
                                                                                              The other elements, less important than the Virgin remain in the background. This
                                                                                           change is accentuated by the two frames placed on top of the fresco (Figure 4). De-
                                                                                           signed with the aim to enhance the Madonna dei Miracoli, the frames succeed in their
                                                                                           purpose perfectly.
                                                                                              The image of the Madonna dei Miracoli has been reproduced many times but never
                                                                                           copied, In most cases, the various reproductions are limited to the single figure of the
                                                                                           virgin or are decontextualized or perhaps the composition or the number of figures is
                                                                                           altered. The reproductions can however, be useful in reconstructing, albeit imprecisely,
                                                                                           some details that are no longer legible.




                                                                                     328
          Figure 4. Madonna di Lonigo, wood frame, silver frame. Apse of the
          Cappella del Miracolo, Lonigo, Santa Maria dei Miracoli




                                                                                                    CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
    In the frontispiece of the volume Historia della gloriosa imagine della Madonna di
Lonigo by Giandomenico Bertani, preserved at the Bertoliana Library of Vicenza, the
Madonna di Lonigo is represented twice, both before and after the miracle, though
not faithful to the description given by the monk11. Although the faces of the Twelve
Apostles at the end of twelve branches, with Christ crucified at the center of the tree,
and the two angels and the Virgin with the book are all present in the reproduction,
some details do not match the description in the text (Figure 5). The cloud on which
the full-length figure of Mary stands, may perhaps be linked to the act of being taken
up into heaven and is found in the monk’s description but, the crown on her head, the
pelican and the four heads of the angels on the upper margin of the frame seem to
be an invention of the engraver, or perhaps recall other reproductions. Nevertheless,
although the same elements are found, they are arranged differently to the original
image. In the first place, the more “orderly” position of the Apostles’ faces, six on the
right and the same number on the left of the central axis, represented by the Virgin, the
tree and the crucifix with the pelican. Mary wears a crown and has no halo, contrary
to what is observed in the original image, while her cloak is not closed at the neck but
falls amply off her shoulders. Finally, the style itself does not coincide with that of the
miraculous representation, which is certainly older.



                                                                                              329
                                                                                                       Figure 5. Madonna di Lonigo before and after the miracle, frontispiece
                                                                                                       of the volume Historia della gloriosa imagine della Madonna di Lonigo
L. Marcheluzzo - Birth of a devotion. The case of “Santa Maria dei miracoli” in Lonigo




                                                                                                       by Giandomenico Bertani, 1605, Verona.


                                                                                               Similar in appearance is the pair of paintings in the Church of Santa Maria dei
                                                                                           Miracoli, on the right-hand wall of the chapel of Santa Francesca Romana. The two
                                                                                           seventeenth-century paintings by an unknown artist, hanging side by side, represent
                                                                                           the fresco before and after the miracle. Reproductions of the image of the Madonna di
                                                                                           Lonigo can also be found outside the neighborhood of the town.
                                                                                               In the monastery of San Nicola, now a Museum of Iron Art, in Rodengo Saiano in
                                                                                           the province of Brescia, there is a fresco depicting the Virgin of Lonigo, dated 153312.
                                                                                           It shows the crowned Madonna, seated on a throne in front of the tree of life on which
                                                                                           Jesus has been crucified, just above the head of his mother, while on the sides are
                                                                                           the branches with the faces of the twelve Apostles. In addition to these canonical ele-
                                                                                           ments of the miraculous image the saints Sebastian and Roch appear, and unusually,
                                                                                           portraits of the two malefactors.
                                                                                               In Milan, inside the Basilica of San Nazario Maggiore, in a family chapel, there is
                                                                                           a canvas which is a reproduction of the Madonna di Lonigo, dated 1518, the year of
                                                                                           death of the owner of the chapel, Gian Giacomo Trivulzio. He probably learnt of the
                                                                                           healing powers of the Virgin of Lonigo during the military campaigns conducted against
                                                                                           Venice and, when he returned to his city, decided to dedicate an altar to her in his fam-
                                                                                           ily funeral chapel13. Housed in a wooden architectural structure, similar to that of the
                                                                                           devotional fresco of Lonigo, the painting takes on what now seems to be the estab-
                                                                                           lished iconography of the image of Santa Maria dei Miracoli after the miraculous event
                                                                                           of 1486, in which the Virgin covers her eye, wears a crown and is seated on a throne
                                                                                           with a book in her hand; the head and shoulders of the Apostles are inside the tondos
                                                                                           which form the branches of the tree of life; Christ is crucified; there is a pelican’s nest;
                                                                                           the two angels are absent. It The nineteenth-century mosaic on the Chapel altar of the
                                                                                           Miracle, whose design is attributed to the painter Rocco Pittaco, appears to be a copy
                                                                                           of the original fresco (Figure 6).




                                                                                     330
      Figure 6. Madonna di Lonigo, mosaic reproduction. Apse of the Cappella del
      Miracolo, Lonigo, Santa Maria dei Miracoli



   The mosaic faithfully reproduces the position of the various elements of the image;
the head and shoulders of the Virgin with her left hand raised to her forehead and the
book in her right hand; the full-length figures of the Apostles inside the tondos, ar-
ranged in three rows of four, three and five as in the fresco, around the small figure of




                                                                                                   CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
Christ crucified; and, at the top of the tree of life, portrayed as an olive tree, perhaps
in homage to the Olivetan monks who still ran the monastery, the nest with the pelican
piercing its chest with its beak and two angels. It is located above the altar where, pre-
viously, there was a painting of the Birth of the Virgin, which is remembered by Arturo
Pomello14. Although the style is very different from the medieval fresco, the nineteenth
century mosaic fulfils its purpose, which is to reproduce the original damaged image
for the faithful, covered by the frames in wood and silver and most of its surface practi-
cally illegible.
   The Madonna dei Miracoli is also represented in numerous paintings or sculptures,
the fruit of popular devotion, and can be found both in churches and in shrines scat-
tered throughout the territory of Lonigo; they have been located and described by the
local scholar Nicoletta Nicolin-Tonelato15. In particular, in the Church of Santa Maria
dei Miracoli, in the chapel of Santa Scolastica there is a sculpture on top of a pedestal
depicting the Virgin of Lonigo with a red robe and a blue mantle, standing with her left
hand on her eye and her right hand holding a book. On the wall immediately to the left
of the statue are exhibited some embroidered ex-votos, some crutches, a metal bust
and the steering wheel of a car (Figure 7).




                                                                                             331
                                                                                                            Figure 7. Madonna di Lonigo and showcase with ex voto,
                                                                                                            Lonigo, Santa Maria dei Miracoli, Cappella di santa Scolastica
L. Marcheluzzo - Birth of a devotion. The case of “Santa Maria dei miracoli” in Lonigo




                                                                                                            Figure 8. Madonna di Lonigo, Lonigo, Church of the saints
                                                                                                            Quirico and Giulitta (Chiesa Vecchia)


                                                                                               There is another sculpture in white stone, originally painted, dating back to 1627.
                                                                                           It depicts the Madonna di Lonigo standing on a cloud, crowned and with a small book
                                                                                           in her left hand. At present, the statue is kept in the Church of the Saints Cristoforo,
                                                                                           Quirico and Giulitta (or, as it is better known, the Chiesa Vecchia), but has changed
                                                                                           location several times (Figure 8)16.
                                                                                               Near the church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli is a shrine with a fresco inside, depict-
                                                                                           ing the scene of the miracle. The figure of the Virgin seems to be modeled on the
                                                                                           nineteenth-century mosaic of the Chapel of the Miracle but lacks the other elements
                                                                                           that appear in it: the tree of life, the Apostles, the Crucifix, the pelican and the angels.
                                                                                           On her right, the scared criminal Guglielmo, is depicted, while on his right, Giampietro
                                                                                           is pictured clutching the knife with both hands, turned towards Mary’s face.



                                                                                     332
    Another shrine the Virgin shares with other saints, is located a few kilometers from
the center of Lonigo. Within it a sculpture of the Virgin, recognizable thanks to the
raised hand on the forehead and the book in the other hand, but without additional at-
tributes, is flanked by those of the saints Antonio pictured with the Child in his arms,
and Vittore, the dedicatee of the shrine.
    The most significant manifestation of popular devotion representing the Virgin of
Lonigo is found in the ex-voto paintings. The Museum of the Ex-votos of the sanctuary
preserves, in an appropriate space, three hundred and fifty-eight paintings on wood
(Figure 9). The virgin appears in her canonical form in two hundred and thirty tablets,
while in others she is represented with the Child, as a Madonna of Loreto or of Mercy
or accompanied by other saints, especially St. Anthony. Only rarely, together with the
Virgin, are the other elements of the miraculous image represented (Figure 10).




                                                                                                   CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
               Figure 9. Devotee gives thanks to Our Lady of Lonigo, tempera
               on wood, 17th century, Lonigo (VI), Santa Maria dei Miracoli,
               Museo degli Ex Voto.




   The only frequently repeated element, is the book that the Virgin holds in her right
hand. It is depicted one hundred and seventy-seven times, either open or closed,
which allows us to say with confidence that even if it is now not visible in the fresco of
the Chapel of the Miracle, it was present in the original composition.




                                                                                             333
                                                                                                          Figure 10. Tortured devotee painted near the Madonna di Lonigo,
                                                                                                          with the tree of life and Christ crucified, tempera on board, 17th
L. Marcheluzzo - Birth of a devotion. The case of “Santa Maria dei miracoli” in Lonigo




                                                                                                          century, restoration 1921, Lonigo (VI), Santa Maria dei Miracoli,
                                                                                                          Museo degli Ex Voto.




                                                                                              After observing these numerous reproductions, it seems clear that over the cen-
                                                                                           turies, the iconography of the fresco of the Blessed Virgin of Lonigo has changed,
                                                                                           becoming more and more simple. The representative changes can be explained by
                                                                                           the change in taste that led artists commissioned to reproduce the figure, to prefer a
                                                                                           more ordered and symmetrical way to paint the Apostles. It is devotion then, which has
                                                                                           prompted a crown to be added on the Virgin’s head and to place her on a throne or
                                                                                           on a cloud, rather than on a humble bench. What is more surprising, however, is that
                                                                                           after the miracle, the various symbols that make the picture so complex and difficult
                                                                                           to understand, lost so much of their value that they were completely omitted in later
                                                                                           reproductions. The focus of devotion is still Mary, her hand raised to protect her injured
                                                                                           eye while there is no longer interest in the tree of life, the Apostles, the angel and
                                                                                           the pelicans. It is not surprising, therefore, that the value of this image has changed
                                                                                           from being the mere decoration, however complex and interesting, of a small country
                                                                                           church, to become the centerpiece of a devotion that is still alive, but at the same time
                                                                                           has resulted in the original meaning of the image being forgotten.

                                                                                              5. Interpretation

                                                                                               An image out of context, especially if old, undoubtedly poses problems of interpreta-
                                                                                           tion. After the miracle of 1486, the fresco of the Madonna di Lonigo was removed from
                                                                                           its original location. The Church of San Pietro Lamentese has lost its original form. It
                                                                                           has been transformed into a chapel, part of the larger building of Santa Maria dei Mi-
                                                                                           racoli and decorated with a riot of stucco work. The fresco is inserted in a small shrine
                                                                                           and covered by two frames made of wood and silver, the latter placed there in the
                                                                                           seventeenth century, which have rarely been removed, and frame only the face of the
                                                                                           Virgin. These changes, combined with the poor state of preservation of the painting, to-
                                                                                           day, result in only a faint shadow of the face from the original composition being visible.
                                                                                     334
    The image of the Madonna di Lonigo, interpreted as an Assumption or a symbol of
the Church, could have another meaning. Personally, I believe that the most unusual
element in the representation is the Virgin, in her singular position, on a bench with a
book in her hands, compared with Christ crucified to the tree of life and the Apostles.
Such a particular posture does not seem to be a random choice. Mary, as previously
stated, could have been depicted in a moment of reflection, caught in the act of medi-
tating on what she is reading in the Scriptures, the Gospel message preached by Je-
sus and, after his death, by the Apostles, who are represented behind her. The fresco
might represent, from this perspective, an allegory of meditation on sacred texts, an
invitation to imitate the Virgin who, after reading the Gospel, reflects on its message
and on its diffusion, while behind her appear the propagators of the message. How-
ever, assumptions about the meaning of the fresco of San Pietro Lamentese are des-
tined to remain so. To trace the proper interpretation of an antique painting which is
decontextualized and damaged to the point that its main characters are only shadows,
is an almost impossible task, especially when there are no documents describing the
church before the numerous architectural changes, made after the miracle of 1486.
Such a considerable discrepancy between the documentary information prior to and
subsequent to the miracle is a sign of the transformation in the perception of the image.
Remarkably, it is this very event, due to the singularity of the causes and effects, that
is responsible for the meaning of the medieval fresco falling into oblivion and no longer
being perceived as a unit. The figure of the Virgin has acquired a strong predominance
over the other components in the painting, that, over time, have been reduced to being
simply background elements or substantially eliminated.
    Of course, the miracle has brought many economic benefits to the town, thanks to
the influx of pilgrims and the three fairs dedicated to the Virgin, of which one still takes
place in the last week of March. It is clear that the population has more than an interest
in confirming and spreading knowledge of these events17. It is essential to emphasize




                                                                                                     CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
that during the centuries following the miraculous events of Lonigo, the perception of
the fresco of St. Peter Lamentese underwent a major transformation. Regardless of
what the image symbolized before the miracle, as of May 1, 1486, the fresco became
an image of the Virgin to worship, and the Church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli where it
is housed, a place of pilgrimage, even though not officially recognized as a sanctuary.
From an allegorical image on which to reflect, by taking on a new value, it has turned
into an icon to be venerated and honored, by virtue of the powers that were recognized
almost immediately after the first miracle, to which to pay homage for favors received,
as evidenced by the rich collection of votive offerings, paintings on wood, embroidery,
metallic foils.




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                                                                                                Notes
                                                                                           1
                                                                                                BERTANI G., 1605, Historia della Gloriosa Imagine della Madonna di Lonigo, Ve-
                                                                                                rona; Francesco Barabarano de’ Mironi, capuchin Monk, declares at the end of the
                                                                                                chapter on the history of the Madonna of Lonigo to have taken information from the
                                                                                                public and authentic trial of 1401 and from the Historia by Giandomenico Bertani.
                                                                                                BRABARANO DE’ MIRONI F., 1649, Historia ecclesiastica della città, territorio è
                                                                                                diocese di Vicenza, Vol. I, Vicenza.
                                                                                           2
                                                                                                BERTANI, Historia, pp. 17–18
                                                                                           3
                                                                                                BERTANI, Historia, pp. 17–18. “Many of the faithful passing by, entered the said
                                                                                                Church [S. Pietro] to pay homage and to pray in front of the image of the Glorious
                                                                                                Virgin Mary painted on the wall, which was very old and much revered, in the act of
                                                                                                being taken up to Heaven, her hands clasped together, her eyes looking upwards
                                                                                                to Heaven, holding a book in one arm, with Jesus crucified painted above her, the
                                                                                                Cross made from a tree trunk, surrounded by twelve faces, representing the Apos-
                                                                                                tles, in other small circles of logs, and two angels kneeling”.
                                                                                           4
                                                                                                BOLZONI L., 2009, La rete delle immagini, Einaudi, Torino, p. 69.
                                                                                           5
                                                                                                SIMBENI, Il Lignum Vitae Sancti Francisci in due dipinti di primo trecento a Padova
L. Marcheluzzo - Birth of a devotion. The case of “Santa Maria dei miracoli” in Lonigo




                                                                                                e Verona, da “Il Santo, Rivista Francescana di storia dottrina arte”, XLVI, 2006, fasc.
                                                                                                1-2, pp. 185–214, p. 186.
                                                                                           6
                                                                                                SCHMITT, J.-CL., 1999, Il gesto nel medioevo, Laterza, Roma - Bari, pp. 4-5.
                                                                                           7
                                                                                                The case history is expressed in Lora A., Maccagnan G. et al, 2005, Le tavolette
                                                                                                votive della Madonna dei Miracoli di Lonigo. Catalogo e ricerche, Vicenza, p. 3.
                                                                                           8
                                                                                                RIPA C., 1992, Iconologia, a cura di P. Buscaroli, Milano, pp. 267-268. ����������
                                                                                                                                                                          “Aged wom-
                                                                                                an with serious and modest look, sitting on a mountain of books, with her bent arm
                                                                                                holds her cheek with her left hand, thoughtfully, and with the other hand has a book,
                                                                                                kept half-closed by a few fingers between the pages, wondering about good and
                                                                                                honorable topics”.
                                                                                           9
                                                                                                VOLPE A., 2004, Frammenti di un’allegoria agostiniana. Quattro ‘filosofi’ di Dalma-
                                                                                                sio, Paragone/Arte, anno LV, Terza serie, n° 53 (647), pp. 3-19, p. 3
                                                                                           10
                                                                                                GOMBRICH E. H., 1985, L’immagine e l’occhio. Altri studi sulla psicologia della rap-
                                                                                                presentazione pittorica, Einaudi, Torino, p. 92.
                                                                                           11
                                                                                                BERTANI, Historia, p. 18.
                                                                                           12
                                                                                                TOZZO S., Gli ex voto di Madonna di Lonigo: storia di una devozione, in LORA
                                                                                                A., MACCAGNAN G. et al, 2005, Le tavolette votive della Madonna dei Miracoli di
                                                                                                Lonigo. Catalogo e ricerche, Vicenza, p. 20.
                                                                                           13
                                                                                                Ibid., p. 21; TASSELLO Q., 1942, Storia del Santuario della Madonna dei Miracoli di
                                                                                                Lonigo, Albarelli, Verona, p. 133.
                                                                                           14
                                                                                                POMELLO A., 1886, Storia di Lonigo con cenni storici sui comuni del distretto, Of-
                                                                                                ficina tip. vicentina G. Stocchiero, Vicenza, p. 155; RIGONI C., La cappella del Mi-
                                                                                                racolo, in LORA A., MACCAGNAN G. et al, 2005, Le tavolette votive della Madonna
                                                                                                dei Miracoli di Lonigo. Catalogo e ricerche, Vicenza, p. 17.
                                                                                           15
                                                                                                NICOLIN-TONELATO N., 1995, I “segni” della religiosità leonicena in Reato E., Lo-
                                                                                                nigo e il suo Duomo (1895-1995), Giovani Editori, Sossano.
                                                                                           16
                                                                                                Ibid.
                                                                                           17
                                                                                                GIAROLO D., 1982, Memoria sulla Fiera della Madonna di Lonigo con Notizie
                                                                                                storiche sulla Fiera di S. Giacomo e sui Mercati, edizione rist. anast., Cartografia
                                                                                                Veneta, Lonigo.


                                                                                     336
  Acknowledgements
  Thanks to the Museum of the Ex Voto of Santa Maria dei Miracoli (Lonigo) for the
photographic reproductions of the miraculous image.


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                                                                                           Biographical Notes
L. Marcheluzzo - Birth of a devotion. The case of “Santa Maria dei miracoli” in Lonigo




                                                                                             Linda Marcheluzzo has a Master degree in “History and preservation of artistic
                                                                                           heritage”.




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