Sanctuaire Notre-Dame des Grâces de Lavasina

Brando

Lavasina is nicknamed the "Corsican Lourdes": it is the most visited of the island's Marian sanctuaries, and it rests entirely on a single canvas. In the 17th century, a small chapel belonged to the Danese family, wine merchants of Poretto; a Roman debtor, unable to repay them, sent them a painting of the Virgin and Child — and in the picture's wrapping, tradition says, the Danese also found the sum owed, which was taken as a first prodigy. The founding event came in 1675: Sister Marie-Agnès of Bonifacio, a Franciscan tertiary suffering from violent nervous contractures, set off by boat to seek treatment in Genoa; a storm forced the ship to take refuge in the bay of Lavasina. Led before the painting, she prayed, oil from the sanctuary lamp was applied to her, and she rose healed before witnesses. Bishop Giustiniani ordered an inquiry, then authorised the building of a larger church, opened on 7 September 1677, the feast being fixed for the following day, the Nativity of the Virgin: it is still the date of the great pilgrimage today. Other events have entered the sanctuary's memory, such as the rain that in 1779 ended a terrible drought after processions, or the healing of Mme Sbraggia's blindness. The painting, crowned in 1952 and restored in 1977, is surrounded by a gallery of ex-votos that gives the measure of three and a half centuries of Corsican popular devotion.

Sanctuaire de Lavasina — histoire du sanctuaire ↗

Getting there : Hamlet of Lavasina, commune of Brando, on the D80 coast road about 9 km north of Bastia, towards Erbalunga and Cap Corse; parking along the road, the church stands by the sea. Open daily, 8 am–6 pm in winter and 8 am–7 pm in summer, free admission. The ex-voto gallery can be visited by appointment. Great pilgrimage on 8 September, with large crowds.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound