The religious cult to “Madonna Bianca” is tied to a miraculous event, as well as the popular legend tells, that occurred in 1399 during the French occupation in Porto Venere invaded by the plague.
The legend says that a villager invoked before an image of the Virgin Mary for the end of this disease and, suddenly, the colors of the picture brightened.
Seeing the strange phenomenon as a miraculous event, linked to the disappearance of the plague attributed to Holy Virgin, the painting was moved to the near church of San Lorenzo beginning the devotion of the faithful towards the image and from the Madonna Bianca, naming resulting from the glow of the skin depicted in the painting.
Every year, on August 17, in the streets of Porto Venere takes place a torchlight procession.
