History

The Convento dell'Annunciata of Medole was built in the 15th century far from nearby houses in a position which, before the deforestation of the Po Valley, was covered in dense woodland. The building, surrounded and concealed by a shady forest which increased its intensely mystical atmosphere, was often cited by contemporaries as a retreat:
" …tra Medoli e Castel Giuffredo …è situato il convento che dalla solitudine in cui è posto, viene chiamato dell'eremo sotto il titolo della Santissima Annontiata"
(Donato Calvi, Memorie storiche degli Eremitani di sant' Agostino, Milano 1669)
The convent was first founded using a donation made by Guglielmo Luchino of Castel Goffredo for a private church with house and vegetable garden, assigned to the Eremitani of Sant'Agostino with a brief by Pope Callisto III in 1455.
Following several miracles attributed to an image of the Virgin Mary kept in the church, the Virgin of the Bell Tower, work began on the convent in 1460. It was probably completed in 1467, since the Convento dell'Annunciata welcomed the Chapter General of the Agostiniani Congregation of Lombardy that year. In 1499 the Bishop Leone dell'Ordine dei Minimi Osservanti, consecrated the church which has since been knocked down.
During the course of the following centuries the fame of the Convento dell'Annunciata of Medole grew thanks to the generous donations of the Gonzaga family and the town councils of Medole and Castel Goffredo. From 1467 to 1614 nine Chapter Generals of the Eremitani di Sant'Agostino Congregation of Lombardy were held there.
On 28 June 1543 the Emperor Carlo V stayed at the convent and gave the monks a sumptuous, silver bound book of hours:
"Carlo V Imperatore visitò questa chiesa quando passò per Medole l'anno 1543 ed alloggiò in casa del Signor Francesco Zappaglia, che da S. M. fu dichiarato poi Cavaliere e regalato di una catena d'oro, ed è fama che lasciasse in dono alla Chiesa un breviario legato in argento scritto in pergamena, che si conserva."
("Copia dell'Istoria del convento della Santissima Annunziata di Medole dall'archivio dei P.P. di S. Agostino di Bergamo nel quale trovansi tre tomi contenenti la storia di tutti i conventi della nostra congregazione e le seguenti notizie trovansi nel primo tomo. Manoscritto. Archivio Ceni Brescia)

	Charles V of Hapsburg

Another illustrious visitor to the convent was San Luigi Gonzaga, who was extremely devoted to the miraculous image kept there:
"Il Beato Luigi Gonzaga molte volte essendo al secolo visitò questa Santa Immagine, ad essa riverente offriva sé stesso, come si dava vedere dalla divozione e pietà nota del Santo"
("Copia dell'Istoria del convento della Santissima Annunziata di Medole dall'archivio dei P.P. di S. Agostino di Bergamo nel quale trovansi tre tomi contenenti la storia di tutti i conventi della nostra congregazione e le seguenti notizie trovansi nel primo tomo. Manoscritto. Archivio Ceni Brescia)

	San Luigi Gonzaga

Situated between Medole and Castel Goffredo, the Convento dell'Annunciata was the subject of a dispute between two branches of the Gonzaga family, the princes of Castiglione and the marquises of Castel Goffredo, who fought over its ownership for 160 years, sometimes erupting in violence as in1685 when the militias of the Gonzagas of Mantova, also lords of Castel Goffredo at that time, occupied Medole castle, stronghold of the rival Castiglione branch, for this reason.
On 12 June 1783, under the reign of Emperor Giuseppe II, a decree was issued for the closure of the convent. In 1808 the buildings were sold by the authorities to the knight Giovanni Arrighi of Medole, and since then the property has been handed down to the current owners. The convent was later converted into a farmstead and in 1851 the existing neoclassical church was built.
On 5 November 1885 the Bishop of Mantova Giuseppe Sarto, the future Pope Pius X, visited the current church, authorising mass to be held there, as it still is today. (Archivio Ceni Brescia)

	Giuseppe Sarto Bishop of Mantova, later Pope Pius X

In 1994 the director Alberto Rondalli (Lecco 1960), a member of Ermanno Olmi's "Ipotesi Cinema" group, used the Convento dell'Annunciata of Medole as the location for his medium-length film "Quam Mirabilis", which won a special mention from the jury for best interpretation at the "Molodist" festival of Kiev (1994) and at the festival of Dunkerque (1995), a mention for best direction at "Sulmona Cinema 94" and a special prize from the jury at the festival of Messina (1995).

	"Quam mirabilis", Medium-length film - Director: A. Rondalli 1994

"Rigorously monastic in both setting and execution, "Quam Mirabilis" spins a story of Bressonian simplicity about two cloistered nuns whose love flowers only to be crushed. Made for a meager $ 32,000, first feature by Alberto Rondalli (a student of Ermanno Olmi's film school) brings a hint of scholarliness to its austere formality but is a solemnly affecting, potent ensemble piece that should accrue admiration at festival showings. Imposingly lensed by Rondalli in black-and-white, and punctuated by a series of unaccompanied 12th- and 13th-century religious chants sung by a single female voice (pic's Latin title comes from the first line of one of them), the film's most resounding merit is its ability to travel the tortuous contours of souls and minds using rarely more then a murmur of dialogue. (…) The film opens and closes with the same series of shots in and around the rustic convent, framing windows, doors, alcoves and a tree-lined lane as mournfully expressive, if somewhat studied, bookends. Though the stark setting is brought too heavily into play in establishing the characters' emotional states, Rondalli's compositions are consistently arresting without being overly structured. Cast is uniformly strong, with all seven thesps playing nuns admirably eschewing performance in favor of veiled suggestion."
(David Rooney, Variety Jul 18, 1994)
"Anna, la religieuse de Quam mirabilis. premier film d' Alberto Rondalli, chancèle aussi dans le milieu clos de son couvent. Son sentiment d'étouffement n'a d'egal que sa peur d'affronter l'extérieur. L 'amour sacrilège qu'elle eprouve pour une jeune soeur la conduit à s'échapper. Mais point d'eloge de la fuite dans ce film, puisqu'elle avorte dans le regret. On peut rester hermétique à la vision du monde de Rondalli qui, à travers la communauté des soeurs -où circulent désirs et joies, frustrations et misères- n'offre guère d'espoir d'insoumission, donc de liberation. De meme, la mise en scène, d'une facture remarquable et d'une grande beauté formelle,reste enchainée àl'admiration bressonnienne. (…)."
(C. E. Cahiers du Cinema, 1994)
Until the end of the 18th century, on 25 March, the Day of the Annunciation, an important fair was held on the road towards the convent which attracted a large number of worshippers. An edict dated 1589 by Alfonso Gonzaga, marquis of Castel Goffredo, prohibited the bringing of weapons into the church on the day of the fair:
"Per ovviare a scandali che spesso occorrono per il licenzioso portar dell'armi, ed al fine che principalmente le chiese ed i luoghi sacri siano tenuti in quel rispetto e riverenza che conviene (…)con la presente pubblica grida comandiamo
che persona di qualsivoglia grado e condizione (…) non ardisca oggi che è il giorno festivo dell'Annunciazione entrare (…) con armi offensive di sorte alcuna, spada, pugnale et pistolere nella chiesa dell'Annunciata di Castelgoffredo
(…) sotto pena agli inobedienti della galera per 4 anni (…) . Si comanda inoltre che alcuno non ardisca violare la solennità di detto giorno , giocare a carte, dadi o altro gioco di mal esempio et scandalo (…) sotto pena di 10 scudi per ciascuno e un tratto di corda a chi non haverà modo di pagare (…)"
( Editto di Alfonso Gonzaga, Marchese di Castel Goffredo. 24 marzo 1589. Archivio Gonzaga Mantova)

	Group by A. Mantegna. The Lament of Christ. Detail. Medole. Parish church.

"Ha il sudetto monasterio la chiesa sotto il titolo et invocazione si S. Maria dell'Annuntiata, la quale è di struttura di due navi, la maggiore a soffitta e la minore a volta, con nove altari, choro, sagrestia e cimitario di muro davanti (…) due chiostri, il capitolo, refettorio, cantina, dispensa, cucina, corte per i cavalli e cani, quattro stanze per alloggiar servitù, altre tre per far bucato e torchiar vino, due salette da passeggiare (…) Addj 10 luglio 1650"
(Archivio Generalizio Agostiniano. Curia Generalizia Agostiniana. Roma. Serie li7 – fogli 200, 201. Relazioni congregazione di Lombardia)

The building is a typical example of late Gothic architecture built in fired earth bricks.
The construction originally included two cloisters and an important church dedicated to the miraculous image of the Most Holy Annunciated Virgin. A kilometre-long external stone wall is still in place today and encloses a park of six hectares, making it the largest historically walled area in the province of Mantova.
The old monastery can still be seen in some parts of the Gothic cloisters, large rooms with vaulted ceilings and frescos.
As illustrated in some drawings kept in the Gonzaga of Mantova archive the original building was made up of the church, no longer standing, the dining hall, the chapterhouse and two Gothic cloisters, some remains of which are still there today. Today the building features a simple neo-gothic facade which ends at the current church, in simple neoclassical style, built in 1851.
Inside there are the remains of two gothic cloisters which present a fairly similar composition to that of the cloisters at the abbey of Polirone. Everything is built in fired earth bricks according to the Po Valley tradition. Interesting traces of fresco decorations are still visible on the columns and the ogee arches. The sides of the columns are painted bright red, while the layer of paint underneath suggests a tendril decoration. The capitals are decorated with the trigram of San Bernardino surrounded by winged angels in late gothic style.
On the walls of the cloister fragments of decorations show that there was once a renaissance style, marble effect frame. Other external decorations dating back to the 15th century are two trefoil windows with frescos and a Padre Benedicente surrounded by music playing angels.
Also dating back to the 15th century are three rooms with vaulted ceilings and the chapterhouse with coffered ceilings, which are richly decorated with frescos but still awaiting restoration. In the former church of the Annunciata there was a notable painted terracotta sculpture depicting the Deposition of Christ (now in the parish church of Medole) once attributed to Mazzoni but now, following recent studies by Giuliana Algeri, credited to a sculpturer from the close circle of Andrea Mantegna.

SOURCES
Archivio degli Agostiniani. Roma. Ii7 – ff.200201, 1650.
Archivio Gonzaga, Mantova. Buste 3324, 194.
Archivio Gonzaga. Mantova. Magistrato Camerale Antico
Archivio Ceni. Brescia

ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Calvi Donato, Memorie storiche degli eremitani di Sant'Agostino Milano 1669
Casnighi Giovanni Battista, Raccolta di memorie riguardanti Acquanegra, Barbasso e Medole, Brescia 1860
Ceni Ugo, Ricordi storici di Medole. Roma 1936
Magnani Giovanni. Medole. La pittura dal XIV al XX secolo. Medole 1987
Marocchi Massimo. I Gonzaga di Castiglione delle Stiviere 1991
Brigoni Francesco. Medole attraverso i tempi. S.D.