Madonna del Monte Sanctuary

The Sanctuary of Madonna del Monte is located at the foot of Mount Giove, at an altitude of 627 meters, in a picturesque setting, surrounded by greenery and the silence of nature.

It is difficult to describe the feeling and emotion that this magical place conveys.

It is probably one of the oldest sanctuaries on the island: the original structure is Romanesque, dating from the 12th century, expanded and beautified in the centuries that followed. Particularly in the 17th century, by the Pisani. The works were commissioned by Grimaldi, an official of the principality when it was ruled by Isabella Mendoza, widow of Alessandro Appiani. As a reminder, the noble coat of arms of the benefactor was placed on the back wall of the sanctuary, to the right of the bell tower.

The facade is divided into two sections, both very simple. The lower part features the portal topped by a triangular pediment. Above the door is a kind of blind rose window of vague quadrilateral shape. The facade is also marked by four pilasters, supporting a cornice interrupted by the rose window. It is completed with the frame of the roof's slope.

The same pilaster motif reappears in the upper quadrangular elevation.

The belfry is the last structural addition to the sanctuary, having been built in the 20th century.

The floor plan of the building, with a single nave, is rectangular and the result of various expansions. The choir, nave, and presbytery were probably built in different periods.

Fun Fact: According to tradition, the church was built following the miraculous discovery of a sacred stone on which the image of the Virgin was painted.

The interior of the sanctuary is very bare, except for the fresco of the Madonna Assunta to Heaven, painted directly on a block of granite.

The interior walls have no frescoes, except for 19th-century ones on the ceiling vaults.

Within the sanctuary, there are also notable side altars, dedicated to Saint Monica, Saint Lucia, Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, and Saint Augustine.

Fun Fact: In 1995, during restoration work on the interior decorations, 16th-century frescoes attributed to Sodoma were discovered behind the main altar. The artist may have worked here in the summer of 1537, when he was in the service of Prince Jacopo V Appiano of Piombino.

Another architectural gem of Madonna del Monte is the exedra in front of the facade (1698), known as the Theater of the Spring, from which the purest water of Capanne flows perpetually. The exedra is decorated with Doric pilasters and mask-shaped spouts. In the center, above one of the spouts, is a marble relief of a crucifix.

The other building near the church is the hermitage. Here, Saint Paul of the Cross stayed in 1735 and later Napoleon; a plaque on the wall of the hermitage recalls that in 1814, the place was Napoleon's residence, accompanied by his lover Maria Walewska.

The place was not chosen by Bonaparte by chance; in fact, near the hermitage, on the rocky Masso dell'Aquila, a telegraph station was built by the French government during the early years of their rule over Elba, allowing long-distance communication. The Madonna del Monte Sanctuary, overlooking the sea from Capo Corso to Piombino and Livorno, was also an excellent strategic location.

Fun Fact: The Madonna del Monte is celebrated on August 15, the day when the island's inhabitants visit the sanctuary to give thanks to the Virgin.