Information
The building has been rebuilt several times over the centuries and its current appearance dates back to the mid-80s of the last century: it is a modern structure, characterized by a spire, sentinel of the entire surrounding valley, with a single compartment covered with marble and stained glass windows that represent the mysteries of the Rosary.
The origin of the Sanctuary is linked to the apparition of the Virgin in front of the woodsman Niccolò in 1265: Our Lady urged him to erect in the forest a church in his honor, named after Santa Maria di Valverde, Spanish town where there was already a church built in honor of Mary, but now in a state of neglect.
The sanctuary preserves a splendid medieval wooden icon of the Virgin, brought back to its ancient splendor by a long restoration carried out in 1965.The Madonna enthroned is covered with a blue tunic stopped at the head by the crown, also carved. The body of the virgin appears partly carved in the round (shoulders, head), partly in high relief. Remarkable are the decorative details of the garments, belt and throne. The face is hieratic, but at the same time turned with loving motion to the children Jesus standing on his lap. Every first Sunday of May the Shrine is a place of penitential pilgrimage by the faithful of Bovino and the neighboring villages, while on August 29 the icon is carried in procession through the streets of Bovino in a suggestive ride in historical costumes of every age from the foundation of the sanctuary to the present day.
