Church of Madonna delle Grazie

Manzoni Square, 13th century

The first construction phase of the sanctuary can be dated back to the thirteenth century and is characterised by square stone pilaster strips and small round arches. The second phase, this time from the Ardgonese epoch, is identifiable through a single-light pointed window. The third, eighteenth century phase is characterised by a broken tympanum and by a bell gable, with a Baroque-style crowning. In 1735, the sanctuary was the protagonist of a vow properly so-called, because of the invasion of the locusts that had occasioned a great famine. The iglesias community turned to the Most Holy Virgin, beseeching her so that it could be delivered from such terrible scourge, and, in return, the faithful vowed to sing every year on that day a mass in the name of the Saintly Mary, a solemn commitment the city never failed to honour.