The Basilica of the Madonna del Sangue dominates the tiny village of Re in Italy’s Vigezzo Valley, just a few miles from the Swiss border. Its enormous domes seem almost impossibly grand against the surrounding Alpine landscape, but the reason for its existence dates to 1494, when a stone thrown in anger struck a fresco of the Virgin Mary on a small village church. According to accounts preserved from the time, the image began bleeding from the forehead and continued for roughly twenty days. The event transformed Re into a pilgrimage destination, eventually leading to the construction of this monumental basilica between 1922 and 1958. The original 15th-century fresco remains preserved inside today.
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