BRA, SANTUARIO DELLA MADONNA DEI FIORI DI

BRA, SANTUARY OF THE MADONNA DEI FIORI. — It owes its name to the characteristic annual flowering, even in the depths of winter, of some wild plums (*Prunus spinosa*) that grow within the sanctuary’s enclosure. This unusual flowering began on 29 September 1336, when the Virgin appeared to aid a young bride, Egidia Mathis, who, to escape the advances of two soldiers, hid in the thicket of thorny plums surrounding a small wayside shrine dedicated to her. In recent years a new sanctuary has been rebuilt (the previous temple dated back to the 17th century), and it now includes a house for spiritual exercises.