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Built in 1645, the church of Madonna del Pilone was constructed by wish of the Queen Regent Christine Marie of France to remember the miraculous rescue from the previous year of a girl from the river. The miracle was attributed to the intervention of an image of the Virgin of the Annunciation, which was placed on a votive pillar. The painting became such an item of devotion, that this church was built at the site, enlarged in 1779, and furnished with a baptistery in 1807. Repeated reconstructions have altered the interior, and the church retains only some of the original decoration consisting of the stuccoes attributed to Giovanni Andrea Casella and the cupola frescoes by Bartolomeo Guidobono. The main altar houses the miraculous icon dating from 1587, now thoroughly restored.
The miracle for which the church was built recalls that the riverbank nearby once housed a number of mills. A flour miller's daughter fell into the river at dusk. Her Mother, hearing her cries, but unable to see where she was to rescue her, knelt before a nearby shrine built next to the mill, depicting the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin. Legend holds a miraculous shaft of light illuminated the spot where her daughter was, and allowed her to be rescued by neighbors. News of the miracle led to the erection of a church by 1645, which became a Parish church March 2, 1807. The picture of the Madonna behind the main altar recalls the event.
References:The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley in France. Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years. The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century. The monument is located in the valley of Le Loir. Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries.
