Santuario Madonna della Basella

There are no mountains, hills, lakes, sea to frame but the atmosphere of being at home in the presence of that tangible feeling of being with Mary. Total and enveloping silence frees your mind for a moment of prayer of comfort and thanksgiving.

And a much visited and devoted sanctuary to the Madonna is located 15 km from Bergamo.

Place of the heart, if nn cinai bears nn it can be understood

07/31/2021 Romano di Lombardia - Basella (Urgnano), 13 km., 45 minutes by bike. If we are attracted to these places of prayer it is because we are looking for answers. Peace. Reunification with the truest and deepest part of us. Hints of emotions and moods that you see in the mind, chest and stomach! And where God who has given us, his children, mortals, the Art that is his property, to communicate and give with it in the world, all the shades of love !!! That's all for me! FROM WIKIPEDIA: - The sanctuary of Santa Maria degli Angeli known as the Madonna della Basella is a Catholic place of worship in the Basella district of Urgnano. The history of the church is linked to the miraculous appearance of the Virgin on the morning of 8 April 1356 to a young daughter of farmers. The building was built thanks to the offers of the important Visconti families and Bartolomeo Colleoni. - The church was enlarged in 1460 by the will of Bartolomeo Colleoni who, having retired from the activity of leader, in the Malpaga Castle, near Basella but on the opposite bank of the Serio river, considered the church too small for the large number of pilgrims who they visited her. The classroom was enlarged and also became the burial place of the members of the family and of the fifteen-year-old daughter Medea, who died of pneumonia. The body was then moved to the Colleoni Chapel with the leader. - In 1921 the statue of the Virgin was crowned with the presence of Angelo Roncalli, the future pope.

For the first time nice and cozy all with beautiful frescoes by a careful sensitivity gracefully

The beautiful sanctuary surrounded by a large park is located near the cycle and pedestrian paths of the Serio park. The frescoes and the small cloister are beautiful

It deserves a visit not only for the spirituality and pleasantness of the place, but for the history that characterizes it. Its erection is in fact due to the oldest documented Marian apparition in Bergamo (1356). A more ancient temple was buried in the same area, of which nothing is known. Strong also from the economic impulse given by the Visconti, it was built in a short time and equipped with frescoes, of which traces remain in the beautiful painting ("Fresco dell'apparizione") located to the right of the presbytery, in which there are three Marian scenes. In the center Galeazzo II Visconti (brother of Bernabò), kneeling in prayer, dressed as a pilgrim. His horse is behind him. The temple was embellished by Bartolomeo Colleoni in 1460, who had his beloved daughter Medea buried there (later moved to the Colleoni Chapel in Bergamo Alta). It also houses the sarcophagus of Alessandro Martinengo Colleoni, a descendant of the leader, originally buried in the destroyed church of S. Stefano di Bergamo. The sacristy is very beautiful, with a finely painted ceiling in which the Bernardinian monogram stands out. Also interesting are some coats of arms walled up on the counter-façade. For the rest, the church is the result of a reconstruction, dictated by the fact that at the end of the 1700s the Dominican Order that ran it was suppressed, and the adjoining monastery fell into disrepair. It was revitalized with the arrival of the Passionist Fathers (1920) who still manage it today. The church is decent, well maintained. Under the main altar there is the scurolo which recalls, with beautiful statues, the point of the apparition. The statue of the Virgin was crowned in 1921. Next to the church there is a small square cloister with a central well. The large convent complex has the entrance not far away. There is also the interesting African Museum.

Welcoming sanctuary of great artistic importance in the heart of the Lower Bergamo Plain. Originally from the second half of the 1300s thanks to Visconti and Colleoni, it still resists time today thanks to the management of the Passionist Fathers whose convent borders the Sanctuary. During the Christmas period there are set up many nativity scenes from various parts of the world. I thank Mr. Sergio who patiently and creatively made his time, skill and creativity available to the community. He told us about every peculiarity, the nativity scene in the loaf of bread, the beeswax baby from 100 years ago and the one in ancient plaster. Attached to the complex we remember the National Museum of African culture. A visit will leave you amazed.