Basilica-Santuario di Santa Maria delle Grazie

Santa Maria delle Grazie outside Arezzo combines a late-Gothic church with a Renaissance loggia and a richly worked high altar. Its devotional focus is Parri di Spinello's Madonna della Misericordia, framed within Andrea della Robbia's marble and glazed-terracotta ensemble.

Why it matters

The sanctuary developed after Bernardino of Siena's campaign against rituals at a spring believed to have healing powers. Its successive buildings and artworks show the transformation of that site into a centre of Marian devotion.

What to notice

The loggia attributed to Benedetto da Maiano has fifteen arches supported by Corinthian-style columns. The high altar combines marble sculpture with a polychrome terracotta garland of fruit and foliage, surrounding the Virgin's protective mantle image. Frescoes by Lorentino d'Andrea and fragments preserved in the San Bernardino chapel add another strand of fifteenth-century painting.

Context and history

Bernardino had the fountain destroyed in 1428, and an oratory followed. Parri painted the Marian image in 1430–1431. The church was built in 1435–1444 to Domenico del Fattore's design; later work added the loggia and the altar, made in 1487–1498 with members of della Robbia's workshop. A separate portico around the forecourt was largely demolished in 1788. Its loss should be distinguished from the surviving loggia attached to the church.