Montopoli Valdarno, San Romano | Sanctuary

The present Sanctuary was built on the site of the ancient church of Santa Maria a Valiana, where an image of the Madonna carved into an oak trunk was kept, and has been the object of growing devotion since the 16th century.

The history

Tradition has it that a young shepherdess used to go to the small church to pray to the statue of the Madonna, who one day spoke to her. A great veneration for the statue soon spread throughout the area, so much so that the church had to be enlarged to accommodate the faithful.

The intern and the cloister

The sacred image of the Madonna of San Romano is displayed in a small temple in the centre of the chapel, which is distinguished from the others by the refined white stucco decoration. In the cloister, some rooms of the Convent have been turned into a small museum housing religious objects and votive offerings.

Since 1922 the Sanctuary has hosted an important Artistic Crib at Christmas time, now known throughout Tuscany, which occupies 300 square metres of the cloister of the convent.