Canoscio

Canoscio is a frazione of Città di Castello, Umbria.

It is home to the Shrine of the Madonna of Canoscio (Italian: Santuario della Madonna di Canoscio), atop a hill overlooking the upper valley of the Tiber at 449 m. The church has its origins in a votive chapel dedicated to the Madonna of the Assumption that was built by a certain Giovanni di Jacopo in 1348, for having been spared during the Black Death. The chapel was enlarged in 1406.

The present church in traditional Tuscan style celebrating the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was built in 1855‑1878 by architect Emilio de Fabris, better known for the sensitive Gothic façade he provided for the Duomo of Florence. The shrine of Madonna di Canoscio remains a center of Marian devotion today. In 1998, Pope John Paul II raised the sanctuary church to the honor of a Minor Basilica.

Another sight on the hill of Canoscio is a large 12th‑century Romanesque church, the Pieve of SS. Cosma e Damiano, with medieval votive frescoes.