Santuario Madonna della Creta

piazza Madonnina dei centauri - 15073 Castellazzo Bormida (AL)
Via Santuario 2
Tel. +39 (0131) 275.272
Tel. +39 0131 512239
E-mail: beniculturali@diocesialessandria.it
https://www.cittaecattedrali.it/it/bces/50-santuario-della-beata-vergine-della-creta-e-delle-grazie
https://www.comune.castellazzobormida.al.it/it-it/vivere-il-comune/cosa-vedere/santuario-della-beata-vergine-della-creta-5804-1-301fb86d007882f35589c4734d559dbd

The Sanctuary of the "Madonnina" is certainly the best-known church of Castellazzo today. In 1947, with the Papal bull, Pius XII conferred the title of Patroness of Motorcyclists upon Santa Maria della Creta, and every year - since 1946 - on the second Sunday of July there is an important and spectacular international gathering of motorcyclists who come on pilgrimage from many countries around the world for the religious celebration; on the occasion, the doors of the sanctuary also open for motorcycles. Inside, at the access corridor to the Rotonda, there are a large number of painted votive offerings, evidence of the ancient devotion to Santa Maria della Creta. The first building on the site was a chapel, built in 1631 by Giovanni Viola from Castellazzo following the plague epidemic that had devastated Europe; the chapel contained a painting depicting the Blessed Virgin of the Sanctuary of Crea (located on "Mons Cretae" 20 km from Casale Monferrato). Perhaps neglected and degraded, the chapel was demolished in 1764. The sediment is reseeded, but for the people of Castellazzo it remains a sacred place, the object of votive offerings: shortly after, we arrive at the anchoring of a wooden cross, then the erection of a pylon with the painted image of Our Lady of Crete, which quickly and somewhat mysteriously takes its place in the popular devotion of the original painting (even when the painting returns from S. Carlo, where it was kept). The building history tells of the construction of a small church then demolished (1802-1848), of the so-called Rotonda around the pylon and of a temporary chapel testified by the most famous of the votive offerings and, at the end of the 19th century, of the Sanctuary itself.
The main body was completed and inaugurated in 1905, the facade and the bell towers in 1924. The works of the end of the last century were directed by the architect Giuseppe Boidi Trotti according to the project of the architect Caselli from Alessandria. The facade is the work of the surveyor Girolamo Buscaglia.

ph. credit website of the Municipality of Castellazzo Bormida