Dedicated to Our Lady of Peace in Verezzo

The origins of the sanctuary, located near the town of Verezzo and dedicated to Our Lady of Peace and the fallen of all wars, date back to the period of the First World War, when the parish priest of Verezzo San Donato don Ceriolo came up with the idea of building a sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin Mary Queen of Peace. The project was launched on 15th November 1918 and the supporting wall was built and solemnly blessed on 13th May 1919. Due to lack of funds, in 1920 a loan was launched among the inhabitants of the hamlet to raise the necessary funds.

On 3 March 1921 the solemn ceremony of laying the first stone of the new sacred building took place, planned in a particularly sumptuous and eventful style, which would become more bare and essential in the final construction of the church.

In 1924 the works of extraction and preparation of the stones necessary for the construction of the Sanctuary were interrupted.
Thirty years and another world war had to pass before the sanctuary, tenaciously wanted by the parish priest of Verezzo San Donato don Felice Ausenda and with the choral competition of the whole population, could finally see the light on a project by the architect Silvio Gabrielli from Ferrara.
The construction, all in sandstone from the quarries of Verezzo, was started in 1949 and was completed in 1951.

On 1 April of this last year the new church was solemnly consecrated in the presence of the Bishop of Ventimiglia Rousset and the highest civil, military and religious authorities. In 1954 the two bells, manufactured by the renowned foundry Picasso of Avegno (GE), were put in place, for which the population had collected a large quantity of coins and copper vessels.

The structure was subsequently finished and completely restored in its internal and external appearance with the restoration of the perimeter of the building, the completion of the pavements, the construction of a Palladian type driveway to facilitate access to the sanctuary, the opening of windows and gratings, the development of a new lighting system, the restoration of the warehouse, the internal reconstruction of the sacristy, the activation of the toilets and the execution of a complete interior decoration by the decorator Dante Ghisi.

Inside, the statue of Our Lady of Peace, which arrived in 1920 from Val Gardena, by the Tyrolean sculptor Giuseppe Runggaldier, is particularly venerated, with a base in which a broken cannon is embedded, while a chapel of the sanctuary is dedicated to all the Italian soldiers who died in military operations, and in particular to the fallen of the two world wars.

(texts: Andrea Gandolfo; Sergio Carbonetto with "Verezzo Storie di santi, di codici e di cavagni" by G. Rilla)