The people of Arezzo sing this hymn every February 15th during the great festivities for the “One Full of Grace,” venerated by the population with the title of “Our Lady of Comfort,” given to Her by the townspeople, who on various occasions were able to experience for themselves how comforting it can be to turn to Our Lady in times of sadness and pain.
In 1796, during Carnival season, when many people were light-heartedly crowding into the theater despite the hard times, a violent earthquake struck the town. It was followed by other tremors, and the whole city lived in constant fear of a catastrophe. But then a prodigious thing happened: on 15 February, towards evening, three workers entered a wine shop in a dingy cellar, run by a local woman. Hanging on the central wall was a little terracotta plaque of a bust of Our Lady, darkened by smoke. The four people present kneeled in front of the image to ask for the intercession of the Virgin Mary. All at once, to everyone’s great surprise, the image became luminous and beautiful. Outside, the sky that had been dark grew bright, and immediately the news of this miracle spread through the entire city, to the point that a large number of people came to the cellar. From that moment on, people came from all over to venerate the Virgin, and the image was moved to the Cathedral, where in 1815 a chapel was erected to contain the miraculous image. Since then it has been the object of great devotion by the entire population of Arezzo and the surrounding province.
But not everyone knows that this terracotta plaque came from Siena and is simply a reproduction of Our Lady of Provenzano, probably taken to Arezzo by a woman from Monte San Savino who had been miraculously healed.