The Tower

Witness to the ancient past is the walled village, where the medieval fortress once stood.

A significant element of the old town is the Clock Tower, whose presence is traced back several centuries, certainly before the earthquake of 1661, when it was destroyed and then rebuilt in a different spot in 1788. New restoration work modified it in the Neo-Gothic style between 1920 and 1930.

On the altar of the Amaducci family, who owned the land on which the sanctuary was built, there is a stucco altarpiece with large symbolic statues; the painting depicts the Madonna and Child, on the left St. John the Baptist and St. Anthony Abbot, on the right St. Rocco and St. Francis of Assisi holding the crucifix. The artwork is from the 17th century, late Venetian manner, sized 320×210 and it is located inside the Sanctuary of Madonna della Suasia, with access from the Bidente provincial road no. 4 towards S. Sofia on the left at the end of the village.  Following a recent restoration, the painter’s signature appeared, interpreted as that of Gerolamo Veronese.

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 image has been called the “Mother of the New Evangelisation”. This is a reproduction of the fresco, removed 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.