Just as Christopher Columbus set sail on the first of his monumental voyages of discovery, closer to home at Gallivaggio in Valle Spluga other matters were of more importance in people’s thoughts.
Today the church or “diocesan sanctuary” is where La Madonna is revered as the proclaimed “Mother of Mercy.” But it was on Wednesday the 10th of October 1492 – fully 520 years ago that the story begins: two girls from Vho and Lirone (neighbouring villages in Val San Giacomo) were out collecting chestnuts. A regular activity in an area within the Gallivaggio gorge, where the girls knew very well they would find the precious “marroni”- vital to sustain their families through the long harsh winter to come. It was very much a typical chestnut ‘harvesting day’ for the pair. Except on this particular occasion they saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary! An incandescent light enveloped the entire mountain and La Madonna appeared within it. In the ‘conversation’ which ensued, this astonishing - but totally credible vision for the girls - spoke much of sin, sinners and sacrifice to the spellbound girls before disappearing back into the light.
Heading up from Chiavenna towards the Spluga Pass you soon reach San Giacomo Filippo and a large square restored in 1992 on the 500th anniversary of the Apparition.
The most striking feature of the Sanctuary is its actual position, wedged within an alpine amphitheatre with nature at its most wild and captivating and crowned by a mass of rocks.
The sanctuary undoubtedly remains the destination for pilgrims from far and wide, many leaving touching hand-written pledges of faith on the register next to the ‘sacred stone’.



OPENINGS HOURS 2022

Temporarily closed.