Just outside the town, there is the Sanctuary of the Madonna dei Fiori, a splendid complex that has become famous throughout Piedmont and beyond, where the figure of the Madonna, Mother of Jesus, is venerated.
The legend takes us back to 29th December 1336, when a young bride on her way home decided to stop near a votive pillar consecrated to the Madonna to recite a prayer. The young Egidia Mathis, suddenly surprised by two ill-intentioned soldiers, invoked the Virgin Mary to help her. In all her splendour, the Virgin Mary appeared, drove the soldiers away and assisted the young bride in a sudden birth caused by fright, right on the site of the Pillar and many wild plum trees. The young woman announced the miraculous intervention to everyone and, together with relatives and friends, returned to the site of the event. The amazement was at its height when everyone saw that the wild plum trees were covered in white flowers despite the cold season. Since then, the extraordinary winter flowering has been repeated and to this day there is no scientific explanation for it.
The complex consists of five buildings: the old sanctuary, originally built in 1626 in the Baroque style, which stands on the site of the previous chapel commemorating the miracle and which houses a painting by the famous Claret; the new sanctuary, built from 1933 onwards to a design by B. Gall. The new sanctuary, built from 1933 on a project by B. Gall to accommodate the numerous faithful who came to the sanctuary every year to venerate the Virgin Mary; the Mosaic by Father Rupnik; the Garden or Pruneto, which houses the canonical house: the crypt used as a place of prayer.
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