Madonna of Tears ---

At Ponte Nossa, in the locality of Campolongo, we find the Sanctuary of the Madonna of Tears, also called "Madonna of Campolongo". It is the first documented case of a weeping image of the Virgin Mary in the history of the universal Church: according to tradition, on June 2, 1511, a young shepherdess of the village, while gazing at the painting, saw the face of the Madonna change until it wept blood. The miraculous image of the Madonna is preserved to this day in the Sanctuary, along with a sixteenth-century polyptych attributed to the Vivarini workshop and various votive tablets dedicated to the Madonna herself, tangible signs of popular faith that have made the Sanctuary of Ponte Nossa one of the most important destinations in the Bergamo area for Marian pilgrimages. However, what captures attention most of all is