Hike to the Sanctuary of Madonna di Re

The itinerary starts from Re station along the Domodossola-Locarno line of the century-old Vigezzina-Centovalli railway. The ring excursion passes through the small villages of Val Vigezzo which form the backdrop to the monumental Sanctuary of the Madonna Del Sangue di Re, located on the slopes of the Costa di Faedo. Following paths and ancient mule tracks, the trail passes along the Melezzo Orientale stream up to the spectacular gorge crossed by the ancient Ponte del Malione, to then reach Folsogno, Londrago and Villette.

Villette and Re are two distinct municipalities, but have been united for centuries by a miraculous history! It was the evening of 14 April 1454, Giovanni Zucono known as Zuccone of Londrago, today a hamlet of the Municipality of Villette, lost at the game “piodella”. The piodella game consisted of taking turns placing a coin on top of a container, from afar everyone threw their own piodella, i.e. a flat pebble, to hit the container. Whoever got closest to the coins was the winner and took home the loot. Zuccone lost at the game and therefore also lost his money and for this reason he became very angry and threw his piodella against the ancient fresco of the Madonna del Latte, hitting her on the head and it started to bleed! The prodigious event led the faithful to protect the fresco by building a small church around it which was then incorporated into the current Sanctuary, built at the beginning of the 20th century, which stands brilliant and majestic with its 51 meters of height and its two 31 windows, in Gothic style.

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