Santuario di S. Maria della Querce Lucignano

The Sanctuary of the Madonna della Querce is located outside the town walls, near the Medici Fortress. A place of worship and veneration of Our Lady of Sorrows, it experienced a decline in interest among the faithful since the 18th century. Nevertheless, until the early postwar years, the water from the well known as the Fonte del Latte (Milk Fountain) located inside the church was given to animals and women to drink, as it "cured milk deficiency and sterility."

The history of the Sanctuary is intertwined with legend, and given the scarcity of documents, it is not always possible to distinguish between the two, at least for the period in which it was built.

Legend tells of a painter named Feliciano Batone who painted a Our Lady of Sorrows in a small majesty, located under a large oak tree.

Tradition tells us of the first miracle, which occurred on August 8, 1467, when a young Sienese nobleman, pursued by his enemies, feeling lost, began to pray and implore this image to escape them.

The enemies, either because the young man was rendered invisible or because they were confused, did not see him, and he was saved. The first reliable documents tell us that in 1564, authorization was given to fell two municipal trees to make the beams needed to repair and expand the old chapel, which had been built on that site following the aforementioned miracle.

From the early years of its construction, the Church of the Querce was much frequented by the faithful of Lucignano. The church's design is attributed to Giorgio Vasari, one of the most important architects of the 16th century, although he was likely unable to supervise the work, as he was busy with grand-ducal works in Florence at the time. The first documented accounts of miracles attributed to the image of Our Lady of Sorrows date back to the first half of the 16th century, but even in the following centuries, the Sanctuary's fame remained linked to the numerous miraculous episodes, which are also linked to votive offerings for graces received.

The building features a rectangular plan with three naves, with a gabled roof over the central nave; the façade is simple and bare, adorned with a central rose window in pietra serena and two windows. The portal was sculpted in 1651 by Ippolito Bracci of Lucignano.

Inside, the central nave is covered by a barrel vault, interrupted in the transept by an elegant and slender cylindrical lantern, while the two side naves are covered with cross vaults. The transept is raised above the nave level, and above it stands the high altar, made of pietra serena, which depicts the image of Our Lady of Sorrows.

The two openings to the sides of the high altar lead to the choir, a wooden work commissioned in 1622 by Father Cristoforo Pontefici. Here, there is a panel depicting the Madonna, dated 1569.

Behind it, there is a long corridor, frescoed with a cycle depicting episodes from the life of St. Philip Neri.

The parish of Querce was suppressed in 1985 and annexed to that of St. Michael the Archangel in Lucignano; however, it is still open for worship.