Pietracupa
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The Sanctuary of the Madonna di Pietracupa rose where the road to Castellina met the ancient roads to Montecchio and to Mulino Nuovo. A tabernacle with a frescoed Madonna once stood on this site near a large hollowed rock. The image was the object of popular veneration and it was the custom for pilgrims to chip off a piece of the rock in a gesture of devotion. After many miracles, the Naldi brothers, owners of the tabernacle and of the land on which it stood, built a small oratory around the venerated Madonna, financed by the offerings of the faithful. Later, the same Naldi donated one of their plots of land on flatter ground to build a sanctuary, able to welcome the large numbers of pilgrims. In 1596 work on the new building began. The arched portico with pilasters is a mid 17th century addition.The interior has a single nave, which ends in a presbytery richly decorated in a late Florentine Mannerist style. Architectural details in pietra serena define the arch of the choir, and over the side doors are balconies containing reliquary cabinets. There are square chapels on each side, outlined in pietra serena. The design for this part of the church is attributed to Domenico Cresti, known as il Passignano, who worked at Badia at the beginning of the 17th century. In 1600, the artist also painted the altarpiece for the High Altar, which depicts San Donato together with other patron saints of the churches in the area, arranged around the image of the venerated Madonna. The tabernacle had been dismantled, and the image carried into the church. The fresco, previously attributed to Masaccio, has now been recognized as a work by Paolo Badaloni, known as Paolo Schiavo, an early 14th century artist still tied to the Gothic tradition. In the past the Madonna di Pietracupa was a destination for pilgrims, for shepherds traveling towards Maremma, and a place of prayer for farmhands. The “contadini”, peasants, or “bifolchi”, ploughmen, who had transported, free of charge, the masonry for the sanctuary’s construction, formed a society known as the “Compagnia dei Bifolchi”, which still meets twice a year within the church complex.
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