The sanctuary of the Madonna del Pozzo in Empoli is also called by locals the Madonna «di fuori», the Madonna outside, because it stood outside the town walls. In the area known as Campaccio there was an inn which from 1441 the Compagnia di Sant'Andrea turned into a hospice for pilgrims; probably in those years, in a wayside shrine by a well, the Madonna and Child with Saints James and Anthony Abbot was painted. The image began to be seen as miraculous when, in 1523, it survived a fire unharmed, and between 1527 and 1528 a first, simple oratory was built around it.
What to see
The church is surrounded on three sides by a portico with cross vaults, carried on Tuscan columns, with five arches at the front and five on each side. The façade is gabled: under the portico is the doorway between two rectangular windows, above the portico a round oculus.
Inside there is a single nave with a lunetted barrel vault and two side altars, each with two Corinthian columns carrying a pediment; the organ stands on the wooden choir loft over the entrance. The nave ends in the octagonal brick tribune, built between 1610 and 1613 to a design by Gherardo Mechini and Andrea Bonistalli of Empoli, known as il Fracassa, and lit by four windows with stone frames. Above the high altar is the venerated fresco, in rather poor condition, attributed to Stefano d'Antonio Vanni and dated to around 1445.
Visiting
The bell tower was added in 1792. The sanctuary is a place of worship of the archdiocese of Florence: opening and service times should be checked beforehand.
Our editors' tip
The first oratory appears in the scene of the siege of Empoli painted by Giovanni Stradano, under Vasari's supervision, in Palazzo Vecchio in Florence: visitors to the palazzo can look for it there.
