The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Montelungo, in Ruino, a hamlet of Colli Verdi, is a place of great historical and religious importance. Its history is steeped in faith, devotion and a miraculous event that has marked the lives of the faithful. Historical records take us back to the time of Charlemagne, in the year 774, when the Lombard king donated the church of Montelungo with its surroundings to the monastery of San Colombano, in Bobbio. According to popular tradition, however, the church is even older and linked to a miraculous event.
The miracle of the girl from Lagagnolo
The story goes that in Lagagnolo, a hamlet of Ruino, there lived a young girl who was deaf and dumb from birth. Her condition prevented her from communicating with the outside world and from leading a normal life. One day, while she was grazing her sheep in the place where the Sanctuary was later built, a Lady appeared to her, smiling and caressing her gently. Suddenly her ears opened and she regained her hearing and speech. For the first time she could hear the sounds of the world around her. News of the miracle spread quickly. A shrine was built on the site of the miracle and many of the faithful began to go there in search of graces and miracles. This miraculous event helped to consolidate Marian devotion in the valley, and the healed young woman became a symbol of hope for those who turned to Our Lady of Montelungo for spiritual and physical help.
Decline and reconstruction
In 1929 the Sanctuary was considered unsafe due to structural problems caused by its location on an unstable slope. Faced with this situation, at the suggestion of the Bishop of Bobbio, Matteo Pellegrino, it was decided to build a new church on the nearby hill to guarantee the safety of pilgrims and the continuity of the Marian cult.
The new church, completed in 1942, kept the original name of the sanctuary and became the new place of worship for the faithful. All that remains of the old church is a 16th-century fresco of the Madonna suckling the Child, which now hangs above the high altar.
Its strategic position offers a breathtaking view of the Oltrepò Pavese, making it even more evocative and fascinating.
In memory of the miracle
A memorial chapel was built in 1963 on the site of the miracle of the deaf-mute girl from Lagagnolo, where the old church once stood. It is a tangible sign of the extraordinary event that took place here. The small chapel was built to keep alive the memory of the miracle and to allow the faithful to return to the place where divine grace was manifested. A place for prayer and meditation.
The village of Ruino
Perched on a hill and surrounded by meadows and woods, Ruino has much to offer visitors. From the parish church of San Pietro, built in 1612, which still preserves a wooden statue of the period, to the castle of the Counts Da Verme in the nearby village of Torre degli Alberi, at the entrance of which there is still a funerary stele of the Julio-Claudian period, dedicated to Ottone Macedone and Pollia. It seems that in 1452 the castle was one of the places where the horses of the Dal Verme counts were bred.
