For the Cammino Mariano Way, we wanted an image of the Madonna that would be inclusive of all denominations present in Ticino.

The choice fell on a holy icon of the Mother of God.

I asked an iconographer friend in Greece to help me create this new image. We studied it together before presenting it to the priest to obtain his blessing. Once we had his approval, work began. The icon, painted according to the traditional canons of Byzantine icons, is unique in many ways. In the background, it depicts the Holy Saviour on the right with Lake Lugano. On the left is Mount Camoghè with Lake Maggiore. The position of the Madonna vaguely resembles that of the statue of the Madonna del Sasso, but it was inspired by the holy icon of the Mother of God called Pantanassa, famous for its many miracles and healings of cancer.

At the top, among the angels in the scroll, is the phrase of the Archangel Gabriel to Mary.