Santuario della Madonna della Querce

The Santuario della Madonna della Querce (Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Oak) sits about a kilometre outside Lucignano's walls, easily reached on foot along a pleasant lane through the farmland. The Renaissance church, probably designed by Vasari or his workshop in the 1550s, is a refined example of the architectural language being developed in Florence at that time.

The interior is simple but elegant, with a single nave and a coffered ceiling. The devotional image of the Virgin — the object of pilgrimage — is housed in an altar niche. The walk out to the sanctuary and back, through olive groves and past views of the Valdichiana, is one of the most pleasant short excursions from Lucignano.

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A story
The sanctuary's attribution to Giorgio Vasari — the great Renaissance biographer and painter of Florence — is debated, but the building's elegant proportions and use of classical pilasters are consistent with his circle. It was built in the 1550s on the site of a miraculous oak tree (querce) where a devotional image of the Virgin was found. The tradition of miraculous Marian images discovered in rural settings is common across Tuscany, but the building here is more architecturally distinguished than most.

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