The construction of the new church began in 1779 and was completed in 1786. A small single-nave building, divided into two bays ending in a small apse with an altar and a niche of the Madonna.
It was restored in 1869.
**Description:** The Virgin with the Child in her arms was depicted (of unknown age, but in 1737 it was already considered ancient); in the old church, it was kept in the chapel to the left of the main altar, where part of the chestnut tree on which the Virgin was said to have appeared was also preserved.
**Epiphany:** Madonna.
**Image:** Painting
**Description:** In 1737, during his pastoral visit, the Bishop of Sarzana, Monsignor G. della Torre, having noted the poor condition of the image due to its age, ordered a new painting to be made. This, executed on canvas, depicted the Virgin with the Child seated on a chestnut tree. In 1752, it was placed in the parish church and in 1786 in the new Sanctuary. It was recently stolen and replaced with a copy.
**First use:** in the year 1737
**Image:** Painting
**Original location of the Sanctuary:** Around the venerated image.
**Type of ex-votos:** Jewelry items, Other
The exact time of the Virgin’s first appearance is unknown; testimonies regarding the devotion to the Madonna della Castagna date back to the 17th century. Miracles are already attested in the records of the bishop’s visit on June 19, 1623. Other 18th-century sources mention a Lombard foundation, otherwise undocumented; later, the church, originally dedicated to St. Bartholomew, belonged to the Olivetan monks, who in 1133 entrusted its care to the parish of Ripalta. In the church, which was irreparably damaged by the flood of 1752, a painting under the title of Our Lady of the Chestnut had long been venerated, described as ancient by the pastoral visitor G. Della Torre in 1737. New apparitions of the Virgin occurred in 1778 and 1779, giving new impetus to the devotion; thus, a new Sanctuary was erected, inaugurated on March 25, 1786, by the Rector of Padivarma, Gio. Battista Cima. Currently, it is open for the devotion of the faithful on rare occasions.
The first apparition of the Virgin that gave rise to the devotion occurred at an unspecified time; in 1778, the Madonna with the Child in her arms appeared again on a chestnut tree near the ruined church to three young shepherds, who saw her descend and ascend the tree three or four times. The apparition was repeated, in the same place and to the same children, on Holy Wednesday of 1779 (their testimonies were recorded in the presence of the parish priest and another priest, in the acts of the notary Ignazio Maria Di Negro, year 1779). It was thus decided to erect a new Sanctuary for the Virgin. When construction was about to begin, she appeared again to a farmer and a traveler (April 2, 1779), providing the decisive impetus for the start of construction. Apparitions to the laborers working on the construction are attested in an act drawn up by the notary Giuseppe Maria Lucchini in Pignone (1779).
In the past, on the day after the Ascension of Our Lord, the people of Borghetto and Ripalta would go in procession to the Sanctuary to fulfill a vow made in the 17th century during a terrible hailstorm that devastated the countryside.
The cornerstone of the new Sanctuary was laid and blessed on the third feast of Easter in 1779 by the Prior of Ripalta, Domenico Duce, on land donated by the gentlemen Angelo Maria Rossi and Nicolò Drovandi.
19020 Pignone SP, Italy
