Sanctuary of Vicoforte

The penitent huntsman added his arquebus to the shrine and began to collect the large sum of money which would be needed to repair the damage and expiate his sin.

Construction was resumed in the eighteenth century under Francesco Gallo who built the great elliptical cupola which has major and minor diameters of 36 and 25 metres (118 and 82 ft) respectively.

The decoration in fresco of the 6,032 square metres (64,930 sq ft) of the cupola’s vault was completed in 1752 by Mattia Bortoloni and Felice Biella, and the sanctuary finally attained its current form in 1884, when the campanili were built along with the three façades.

On December 15, 2017, after years of planning, the remains of Queen Elena of Italy, were secretly transferred from Montpellier, France, to the chapel of San Bernardo inside the sanctuary.

Two days later, the remains of King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy were transferred from St. Catherine's Cathedral, Alexandria, Egypt, where he had died in exile, and interred alongside the former queen.