About
Known for its weeping portrait of the Virgin Mary, this church also houses the oldest taxidermy in the world.
In the little town church of Ponte Nossa’s Santuario Madonna delle Lacrime Immacolate, there is an important relic dangling from the rafters: a crocodile. This is no ordinary stuffed crocodile though (if such a thing exists). Though its origins have been lost to the ages, the church has documents detailing the crocodile’s removal from the church in 1534. At the very least, it’s some 500 years old, making it the oldest existing piece of taxidermy in the world.
