Madonna dell’Olmo Sanctuary

The sanctuary you don't expect. It is not easy to find it open, since the opening times are not anywhere, but for those who can (typically during the week during business hours, if it does not rain) the place is really beautiful: a beautiful garden surrounds the church, which has a completely frescoed interior. Frescoes of poor style, certainly, but still of good quality. The church is closed (except for the masses) but from the lateral gratings it can be seen well inside.

Once in the open countryside, today incorporated in an industrial area, it still retains a particular charm.

Internally it has beautiful frescoes ranging from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, some of unknown painters, the oldest ones, others (life of the Virgin) are by Lucano da Imola. Unfortunately, the church is surrounded by industrial buildings, but a small park is well kept, the island from the havoc made of prefabricated buildings!

A place of worship born in the countryside but today surrounded, in spite of itself, by factories in the industrial area. Yet it remains a verdant oasis, which is worth a visit. Unfortunately, the fence gate is often closed and there are no information panels for openings or the history of the building (for this I do not give the highest rating). From the sources we know that it should date back to the 11th century and that it was greatly altered over the centuries. The apses are original, of Romanesque style. The entrance inside the church is on the opposite side of the gate on via Madrid. You go along a beautiful path that allows you to admire the building from the various cardinal points. An old elm, protected by a railing, stands in front of the porch in front of the church; in the enclosure of the tree you can also see a stone with a circular basin, which fills with water when it rains (an ancient and rudimentary altar for ablutions?). Under the porch you can admire the simple gabled façade, once painted in the upper part (faint frescoes can be observed) and in the lunette above the portal a painting depicting the Madonna and Child is clearly visible. At the entrance, a plaque remembers that the building was erected to repel any plague six centuries earlier from the laying of the plaque itself (1937), which recalls the restoration carried out by the parish priest, Giovanni Giavazzi, from 1933 to 1937. He noticed the precious frescoes that were covered with layers of lime and he endeavored to bring them back to light. The church, at the time of my visit, was closed however the right window was open, allowing you to see the inside through the grate: a nice surprise! The walls are all frescoed and the apse has the Mystical Almond. Several Madonnas with Child date back to the fifteenth century. The building also has a side entrance and is completely fenced. At one time the church was under the Diocese of Milan and passed under that of Bergamo in 1780. A little-known gem, to be enhanced and opened to the public!