Eremo della Ghisiola

On the state road from Desenzano to Castiglione you come across a crossroads on the right that leads to Ghisiola. Here, on a slight hill covered in vegetation, there is a small rural church, built with moraine pebbles and earthenware. The building, which is part of a small convent complex that today houses the Dehonian fathers, is dedicated to the Madonna della Neve, but is better known from older tradition as Ghisiola or S. Maria della Rosa. The building is linked to an episode from the childhood of San Luigi Gonzaga. To overcome a serious illness that had struck the child at the age of two, the mother invoked the help of this Madonna; the little boy recovered and Marta Tana offered the church a portrait of Luigi with a rose in his hand as a votive offering. The rose in the portrait is connected to a detail of the ancient altar fresco, which depicts the Madonna offering a rose to baby Jesus. The fresco, in late Lombard Gothic style, dates back to the mid-1400s, the period in which the original nucleus of the church was built, corresponding to the altar and presbytery. And it is to this original chapel that the popular nickname of Ghisiola refers. In the first half of the 16th century the Ghisiola was lengthened; at the beginning of the following century it was enlarged with the two lateral bodies and raised with the skylight and the bell tower. During recent restoration works, other sixteenth-century frescoes were found, which had remained hidden under the layers of lime spread during the plagues. It is another Madonna and Child and a Crucifixion with two figures of saints and a saint flanked by various symbols connected to peasant activity.

Since the time of the Gonzaga family, the hermitage played an important role in the religious traditions of Castiglione. On Easter Mondays women go there barefoot to atone for their sins. An oasis of peace on the outskirts of the city, today it is maintained as a place of silence and meditation, reconciling the quiet of nature with closeness to God.