Pietro Annigoni at Ponte Buggianese

Built as an oratory in the early sixteenth century, the Ponte Buggianese church was originally dedicated to St. Joseph and in 1628 it underwent total architectural renovation with further changes in the 1800s.

Its current name is Santuario della Madonna del Buon Consiglio and its facade is Baroque in style with a three arched portico while the interior has three naves with a vaulted ceiling and a presbytery topped by a great dome.

The most interesting feature of the sanctuary is its cycle of frescoes painted by Pietro Annigoni and his pupils from 1967 onwards. This important work radically changed the appearance of the building’s interior and it led to the church being recognised as a monument of special artistic interest in 1978 by the Department of Cultural Heritage.
A room referred as as ‘Annigoniani’ alongside the nave is entirely frescoed by Annigoni’s pupils. The church also recently took possession of a reliquary of the Passion of our Lord, the Sacred Thorn, conserved in a precious and artistic reliquary dating to the eighteenth century in gilded wood. Tradition has it that the thorn came from Jesus Christ’s crown.

http://www.comune.ponte-buggianese.pt.it/