Madonna della Rosa Sanctuary Extension / Studioartec

Architects: Studioartec
Location: Monticelli Brusati, Brescia, Italy
Design Team: Bruno Tonelli, Marcello Peli, Giovanni Mosca, Massimiliano Gorlani
Project area: 4,022 sqm
Project year: 2006 – 2008
Photographs: Bruno Tonelli

The sanctuary of ‘Madonna della Rosa’ (Our Lady of the Rose), which dominates a hilltop in Monticelli Brusati, northern Italy, is the most representative building of this typical Lombardian village in Franciacorta. Around the main body of the church, built in the 14th century, the apse, a side chapel and the entrance portico have been added in the following centuries. Contiguous to the church there is the sacristan’s home, a private house on two floors, built in the 18th century.

A restoration focused on this house, that became a little centre for pilgrims and visitors. The main building was extended with a brand new conference and meeting room, set in the rear part of the complex. The new volume starts from a historical stone wall, giving new views of the Po Valley and Franciacorta itself through a glass façade protected by a wooden brise-soleil. The roof is flat and covered with a green carpet of grass, so that the extension is virtually invisible from the upper level of the historical building.