Santuario della Madonna delle Lacrime

The Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Lacrime in Dongo preserves a Marian image associated with a reported miracle in 1553. The church and adjoining Franciscan convent contain fresco cycles, wooden sculpture groups and the venerated image of the Madonna and Child.

Why it matters

According to sanctuary tradition, a wall image of the Madonna and Child near the Albano stream wept on 6 September 1553. The image, previously known as the Madonna del Fiume, became the focus of a sanctuary and a wider devotional tradition. The church and convent document Counter-Reformation religious life on the western shore of Lake Como; the Diocese of Como lists the site as the Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Lacrime, also known as Santa Maria del Fiume.

What to notice

A portico precedes the gabled façade, while the bell tower and convent complex with two cloisters rise beside it. The church has a barrel-vaulted nave and side chapels. In the presbytery, Gian Domenico Caresana’s 1599 frescoes of the Stories of Mary surround the venerated image, framed by an eighteenth-century polychrome marble altar. Two chapels contain wooden groups by Fra Diego Giurati, assisted by Fra Giovanni da Reggio: seven life-size figures for the Crucifixion and thirteen for the Last Supper. Andrea Gabasio’s frescoes date to 1603. The Chapel of Saint Francis includes a canvas attributed to Fra Gerolamo Cotica da Premana and frescoes attributed to Fra Emanuele da Como.

Context and history

After the reported miracle of 1553, a small semicircular temple was built around the image, followed by a larger church with two side chapels. Caresana decorated the presbytery in 1599, and Gabasio’s chapel frescoes were completed in 1603. A Franciscan convent was proposed in 1607, and construction began in 1609 after land was donated by Tommaso Scanagatta. Although work was suspended following a dispute with the Capuchins of Domaso, Franciscans were established at the site by 1614. Fra Diego Giurati arrived in the mid-seventeenth century; the diocesan account credits Father Daniele Cassonio with bringing him to Dongo in 1649. The Marian images were crowned in 1904, and the church was declared a sanctuary in 1974.