It is undoubtedly one of the most important places of worship in the whole of Piedmont. The Sanctuary of the Madonna del Sangue di Re (Our Lady of the King’s Blood), which stands imposing and majestic in the sky of the Vigezzo Valley, owes its origin to the outpouring of blood from a fresco of the Madonna del Latte, originally painted on the façade of the small Church of San Maurizio. On 29 April 1494, some young people gathered in front of the small church to play a traditional village game, the piodella, which consisted of throwing a flattened stone against a wooden cylinder on which a coin was placed.

One of them, particularly unlucky in the game, became angry and threw his stone towards the church, hitting the very portrait of the Madonna. The next morning, the fresco of the Madonna began to bleed from her forehead. The blood continued to gush profusely for about twenty days, and many sick and infirm people, having strengthened their devotion to the Madonna of Re, were cured thanks to real miracles, which were also officially recognised by the civil and religious authorities of the time.

In 1606, the building of a larger church began, which was completed in 1628, but the influx of pilgrims from all over Italy and nearby Switzerland required an even larger structure. In 1894, four hundred years after the miracle, the decision was made to build a Shrine, but work did not begin until 1922; the consecration took place on 5 August 1958. The celebration of the miracle takes place every year from 29 April to 1 May, with a heartfelt and well-attended pilgrimage on foot from Domodossola.

Contact

(Religious ceremony)
Address:  Via Locarno 4 – 28856 Re (VB)