Santuario di Santa Maria alla Fontana

Porta Garibaldi & Isola


Originally situated in a bosky wood, this sanctuary once enclosed a pool of healing thaumaturgical water, frequented since ancient times by the old, tired and ill. When French military governor Charles d’Amboise received a cure in 1507, he ordered a sanctuary be built over the pool, which for years was attributed to da Vinci and Bramante, but was actually executed by Giovanni Amedeo. The highlight is the brilliantly frescoed, circular sacellum, which looks much like a pimped-up Roman steam room.


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