G. Veronese Madonna with the child

17th century work of the late Venetian manner. The work is placed on the altar of St. John the Baptist. The altarpiece depicts the Madonna and Child surrounded by angels playing music. The figures of St. Anthony Abbot, St. Roch and St. Francis are also depicted. An expression of the late Venetian manner, it measures 320×210 and is signed by G. Veronese.

The altar of the Amaducci family, owners of the land on which the sanctuary was built, has a stucco altarpiece with large symbolic statues; the painting depicts the Madonna and Child, on the left St. John the Baptist and St. Anthony the Abbot, on the right St. Rocco and St. Francis of Assisi holding the crucifix. Following a recent restoration, the painter’s signature appeared, interpreted as that of Gerolamo Veronese. The canvas is dated to the first half of the 17th century.

On the high altar is the miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin holding the Child: he is dressed like a little prince and holds the open gospel in his hand but looks straight at the beholder: this is why the beautiful image has been called the Mother of the New Evangelisation. This is a reproduction of the fresco, detached in 1956 and transferred to canvas, which was painted on the wall above the altar of the Majesty, enclosed by the large sanctuary like a precious pearl, where there is now a large circle with the monogram of Mater Admirabilis on the floor. The small cell was perhaps demolished in 1666 and the painted part was walled up above the high altar: around and above it was probably the large Deposition that is now in the church of San Michele, in the centre of the village. The altar we now see comes from a suppressed church in Cesena and was purchased by Mr Luigi Balestri in 1828 to replace a wooden altar. On the front of the refectory is a beautiful lobed cross of coloured marble that was walled in the holy door in the Vatican by Pope Urban VIII in the jubilee year 1625 and removed in 1650 by Innocent X, transferred here in 1688.

How to get there: The work is located inside the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Suasia, with access from the s.p. n. 4 del Bidente towards S.Sofia on the left at the end of the village.