Sanctuary of Madonna del Faggio

Solitary 18th-century church, located within a beautiful and evocative beech forest, about 3 km away from Castelluccio, straddling the Porretta Terme and Belvedere territories. The outdoor environment is particularly pleasant, and the shrine is a recommended destination for everyone, even for short hikes.

The Madonna del Faggio was born, like many similar shrines, because of the existence of an image of the Virgin Mary, hung, according to a legend, first from a tree (precisely a beech tree) and then placed in an aedicula, a collocation that is traced back to around 1670, the year in which popular devotion also began to develop because of the miracles that were attributed to that icon.

The birth of the shrine is dated 1722; initially its name was Madonna del Rio Scorticato, after the locality where it arose. It established itself from the very beginning as an important center of religious life and devotion. From 1756 began a tradition similar to the Bolognese tradition of the Madonna of San Luca: a procession to carry the sacred image from the shrine to Castelluccio, and bring it back on Ascension Day, with the heartfelt participation of the inhabitants of Castelluccio, Capugnano and Monte Acuto delle Alpi.

That same year also saw the birth of the custom of celebrating the Feast of Sant'Anna (July 26), mother of the Virgin, with a procession to the beech of the apparition, a tradition maintained to this day. In the first half of the 19th century the building saw various and important works, with a notable increase in the interior and decorations, by the painter Lorenzo Pranzini, a native of Castelluccio. In 1837 the bell tower and portico, one of the most significant architectural elements of the sanctuary, were built.