Sanctuary of the Madonna Della Folgore

Rumor has it that on July 10, 1955, the 6th Squadron of the Montebello Lancers Regiment set up camp in this forest together with Marshal Luigi Buonanno. It was then that he, with the help of a few men, carved a piece of tuff and placed an image of the Virgin Mary inside it. From the very first day, it was called the Madonna del Bosco and placed at the entrance to the military camp. On August 4, 1955, after the training camp had ended and the equipment had been removed, Buonanno—in agreement with the Squadron Commander—decided to leave the sacred image behind so that it might protect the inhabitants of the nearby districts and of Vetralla. As the soldiers were preparing to leave the woods, the sky suddenly darkened and a violent thunderstorm broke out, prompting many Lancers, along with the sergeant major and several officers, to seek shelter under an oak tree. A loud explosion was heard, accompanied by thick smoke, the source of which no one could immediately identify. Once the storm had passed, the men realized that the tree under which they had taken shelter had been struck by lightning; what shocked everyone, however, was that the approximately fifty men—including officers, noncommissioned officers, and Lancers—had suffered no harm. People who had heard the loud crash then rushed into the woods to see what had happened and to offer assistance. The oak tree? Split and charred. The soldiers, safe and sound, approached the little statue of the Madonna and knelt down to pray and thank her. After these events, committees were formed that first built a small chapel housing the carved image, and then a church to allow all the faithful to pray to the Madonna del Bosco, who, for obvious reasons, was later renamed the Madonna della Folgore.