Church of Madonna della Scoperta

On the border of the territory of Lonato, near Desenzano del Garda, the locality was the scene of the clashes that marked the Battle of Solferino and San Martino, on 24 June 1859. The curious name derives from the discovery, underground, of an intact painting depicting the Madonna, a circumstance considered miraculous and following which the church, with its seventeenth-century forms, was transformed into a sanctuary.
The church of Santa Maria, known since the beginning of the 18th century as “Madonna della Scoperta”, is documented for the first time in a document dated 1163. In 1201 some soldiers destroyed the ancient church of S. Maria degli Angeli and the adjacent Convent of S. Maria di Fontana Coperta. In 1602 the church was rebuilt with the same dedication and the same dimensions as the previous one.

Once upon a time this location was called Santa Maria di Fontana Coperta, like the convent that was located here.
The current name derives from a legend linked to an extraordinary fact, which we report: it is said that during the Middle Ages a highly venerated painting dedicated to the Madonna mysteriously disappeared from the small church of the Monastery. Everyone thought it had been stolen and no one cared about it until, about 500 years later, in 1700, two children saw the corner of a frame sticking out of the ground. Freed from the soil, a painting depicting the Virgin appeared and it was immediately called a miracle as everyone thought it was the famous painting that had disappeared many centuries earlier. Remarkably, it still retained the same colours.
From that event the new name “Madonna della Scoperta” spread, both for the church and for the district in which it stands.
An in-depth examination revealed that the discovered painting dates back to 1500, but its excellent state of conservation remains extraordinary and is today visible inside the small sanctuary.

Around the church there are memorial stones and plaques commemorating the battle of Solferino and San Martino on 24 June 1859.