In the spring of 1509, in the fields around Lendinara, a violent storm broke. The wind blew so hard that it tore a small statue of the Madonna from its niche on the front of a house. The statue flew off and landed beyond a hedge.
A wayfarer, Matteo Brandolese, was the first to see it, between 8 and 9 May. So, at least, tradition tells. And it tells, too, that the fallen statue was not just a statue. A glow came from it. A light that did not go out.
Nor did it go out in the days that followed. It is said that the Madonna stayed luminous for days. Word spread, and pilgrims and the curious began to arrive from all over the area. They wanted to see it with their own eyes.
A chapel rose on the spot. And with the chapel came new stories.
In 1570, when it was decided to restore it, the water drawn from a nearby spring came out tinged with red, like blood. So tradition says. The faithful read it as a miraculous sign.
In the years that followed there was talk of healings, of the drowned brought back to life, of graces received. The sanctuary’s memory preserves those wonders with their dates, such as 1592 and 1613. They are stories of faith rather than facts to be proven. But they show clearly what the place had become for the people of Lendinara: a fixed point, to return to in difficult times.
The community, meanwhile, did not stand by. In 1577 the town council took possession of the site. From that chapel grew a sanctuary, consecrated at the end of the century. For almost two centuries Benedictine monks lived there.
But the story of the Pilastrello is not made only of dates and bricks. Above all, it is made of people. Of those who came on pilgrimage to ask for a grace. Of those who came back to give thanks. Of those who, generation after generation, kept looking to that little statue as a member of the family.
In the end, it all comes from an accident. A storm, an empty niche, a statue lying in the grass. Anywhere else it would have been picked up and put back. In Lendinara, instead, that fall became the beginning of a devotion five centuries long.
To this day the Madonna del Pilastrello is the patron of Lendinara. Her feast is celebrated on 8 September. And beside the sanctuary there is still the fountain of miracles.
