Madonnari Take Center Stage at Fiera delle Grazie 2026 With Four Days and Two Nights

The “Fiera delle Grazie 2026” returns to Grazie di Curtatone from 13 to 16 August, featuring the 52nd National Meeting of Madonnari alongside a market fair, music, family activities and religious events. The edition is dedicated to Saint Francis on the 800th anniversary of his death, with the sanctuary forecourt hosting 140 chalk artists from several countries and the village welcoming nearly 200 exhibitors. The programme spans art, faith, culture and shows, all organized around the theme “Il messaggio di San Francesco nei colori dei Madonnari.”

Artists’ work will be blessed at 18:00 on Thursday 13 August, and they will create their pieces until 15:00 on 15 August, with two nights (13–14 and 14–15) allowing the public to watch the process for longer. For the first time, the forecourt will receive technical treatment inspired by madonnaro master Kurt Wenner to improve pastel rendering and drawing luminosity, while the 140 competing works will be judged by Austrian art historian Peter Assmann, supported by art historians, scholars, church representatives and communications professionals. The fair also includes “Madonnari delle Grazie,” a new city brand, a renewed Madonnari Campus with services for artists, and evening events including a sacred music concert on 13 August, the 14 August procession by boat with Mantua bishop Marco Busca’s blessing, and a closing pyromusical show on 16 August.

The event traces its roots to August 1425, when the Marquis Gianfrancesco Gonzaga issued the rules for a free market in front of the Sanctuary of the Beata Vergine delle Grazie. Among the 2026 novelties is the “888” project: eight artists will leave on 17 August for a 376-kilometre walk to Assisi, with performances in each stop, arriving on 26 August. From 28 to 30 August, a group of Grazie madonnari will also create a collective work dedicated to Saint Francis in Assisi under Wenner’s artistic direction, as part of a cooperation agreement between Curtatone and the Umbrian city.
Italian Version