{"id":308814,"date":"2024-08-09T21:04:18","date_gmt":"2024-08-09T19:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.e-borghi.com\/what-to-see\/montone-church-of-our-lady-of-the-borders-2\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T11:40:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T09:40:29","slug":"montone-church-of-the-madonna-dei-confini","status":"publish","type":"what-to-see","link":"https:\/\/www.e-borghi.com\/en\/what-to-see\/montone-church-of-the-madonna-dei-confini\/","title":{"rendered":"Church of the Madonna dei Confini"},"content":{"rendered":"

The little church of the Madonna dei Confini is situated near the village of Montone,<\/strong><\/a> in Umbria. It stands at the end of the road that climbs from San Lorenzo to the hamlet of Corlo on Scontrini Hill, on the border of the Montone district. The name derives from the fact that the building was constructed precisely on the border between the territories of religious jurisdiction (between the diocese of Citt\u00e0 di Castello and the diocese of Gubbio) and civil jurisdiction (between Montone and Pietralunga).
\nThe small sanctuary consists of a building with exposed stonework, typical of Umbrian rural architecture, with the chaplain\u2019s old residence attached, accessible via an external side staircase. The gabled fa\u00e7ade of the sacred building has a projecting section at its base consisting of a simple porticoed porch protecting the entrance door and two small windows on either side. The church fa\u00e7ade is completed by a large, simple barred window, framed in local stone. Above this is a tiny skylight made of terracotta bricks. The building has a small bell gable on the roof housing an ancient bronze bell.<\/p>\n

The interior consists of a single nave. Above the entrance door is a simple wooden gallery for the choir. On the opposite wall stands the altar, situated between two side doors leading to the rooms behind, both surmounted by a colourful, ornate oval. Of particular note is the historic fresco depicting the Madonnuccia, located on the altar wall. The 18th-century fresco depicts a slender figure of the Blessed Virgin of the Borders, holding the Child in her arms, who clutches a dove or a turtledove in his left hand. Above the Virgin\u2019s head, two angels hold up a garland of flowers. The painting is completed by five cherubs, two on the right-hand side and three on the opposite side.<\/p>\n

According to court records, it appears that around the year 1765, a shepherdess named Margherita, daughter of Belico, having lost some of her sheep, found them inside a tiny chapel, a statue of the Madonna referred to in the records as \u2018Madonnuccia\u2019. The prestige of the small sanctuary has continued uninterrupted to this day, involving not only the small community of San Lorenzo but also the entire surrounding area, particularly during the festival celebrated annually on the third Sunday in September. At the end of the 20th century, the church was severely damaged, first by the 1997 earthquake, then, as documented (2011) by the photographic exhibition on display in its sacristy, by a serious and disastrous act of vandalism in 1999. Following this latest grave incident, there was an extraordinary public outcry. Some residents of the district, and of the surrounding municipalities (Montone, Umbertide, Pietralunga), immediately organised themselves and self-funded efforts to repair the serious damage inflicted on the sacred building and its furnishings. Thus, thanks to their generosity, this historic country sanctuary has been restored to religious use and to its simple architectural beauty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Discover the little church of the Madonna dei Confini in Montone: a rural sanctuary steeped in history and devotion, featuring the fresco of the Madonnuccia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":235855,"template":"","village-conntection":[50864],"what-to-see-region-and-provinces":[76222,76221],"what-to-see-category":[30159],"class_list":["post-308814","what-to-see","type-what-to-see","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","village-conntection-montone-it","what-to-see-region-and-provinces-perugia-en","what-to-see-region-and-provinces-umbria-en","what-to-see-category-place-of-cult"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.e-borghi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/what-to-see\/308814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.e-borghi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/what-to-see"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.e-borghi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/what-to-see"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.e-borghi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/what-to-see\/308814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.e-borghi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.e-borghi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"village-conntection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.e-borghi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/village-conntection?post=308814"},{"taxonomy":"what-to-see-region-and-provinces","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.e-borghi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/what-to-see-region-and-provinces?post=308814"},{"taxonomy":"what-to-see-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.e-borghi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/what-to-see-category?post=308814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}