Sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie The Sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie is a large oriental-style building with a circular plan and octagonal dome that exerts a certain fascination, both because of the place where it stands and because of the atmosphere of sacredness that is felt there. The church was built in the mid-15th century at the behest of Pietro Bianco da Durazzo, an extraordinary figure whose figure, shrouded in mystery, aroused no small amount of interest because of his impressiveness, conduct of life and resourcefulness. Bianco da Durazzo was a hermit, a former privateer who later chronicles described as a monk, probably a convert to Christianity. At the entrance to the church's doorway one can still read the inscription commemorating the foundation he wanted. The architectural structure is a true "first" and masterpiece of compositional harmony and perfect volumes. The use of circular, polygonal and Greek cross plans reveals a complexity of volumetric relationships between the main body and the secondary ones, such that it can be compared to a style that predates the Byzantine: the Armenian style. The bell tower of the church was unfortunately destroyed a. The atrium in front of the main entrance, with trusses, is decorated with frescoes by the Lateran canon Pietro da Bagnara. On the pediment, however, stands a Gothic marble statue of the Madonna. Inside, under the dome, is the circular aedicule with a Renaissance terracotta frieze redone in 1853 depicting apostles, doctors and saints. Below, on the left remains as a reminder of his 1507 visit the Portrait of Julius II. On the right, on the other hand, is the tomb of Pietro Bianco (1479). A copy of a panel painting by Perugino, the "Family of the Madonna," is in the second altar on the right, while on the central altar is the icon of the Madonna Theotocos, in whose honor Pietro Bianco built the shrine. On the back wall, however, is the Renaissance marble relief of the Trinity, possibly by Antonio Rossellino or Agostino di Duccio. Also there was the 15th-century fresco of the Nativity by Marco Palmezzano, where the city of Forli is recognized as the background, now detached and preserved in the Pinacoteca.
