Monghidoro
Subject: Religious buildings
Toponym: Beata Vergine del Rosario
Type: Church
Municipality: Monghidoro
Locality: Piamaggio
Description
The church is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary and St. Lawrence the Martyr.
It was built in 1893 as an extension to an old oratory and the following year the parish priest of Monghidoro, Mons. Giuseppe Fanti, placed a painting of the Virgin of the Rosary or Madonna of Pompei inside it, a work by the painter Sante Nucci (1821-1896).
The effigy immediately inspired devotion among worshippers and drew pilgrims from as far as the neighbouring Tuscany.
In 1898 the oratory was embellished by an elegant porch.
In December 1914 the Archbishop Cardinal Gusmini elevated the building to the status of a sanctuary.