An Elevated Escape

The Sanctuary of the Madonna della Corona is a place of silence and meditation perched among the rocks, set in the rocky wall on the eastern slopes of Monte Baldo, at an altitude of more than 700 meters high above the Adige valley.

In 1522, according to legend, the villagers living in the virtually impassable rocky cliffs of the Monte Baldo region, observed a mysterious light emanating from the valley below.  A few were lowered by rope to a secluded spot in the middle of the rocks where they found a stone statue depicting the Pietà. 

3 times they collected it and 3 times it was returned to the spot where they found it. Later it was determined that it was a statue that vanished from the island of Rhodes when the island was invaded by the Muslim army of Suliman II, miraculously transported through angelic intervention.

The original sanctuary was built around the statue where it was discovered. In 1625 construction began on a larger church 4 meters above on a ledge, bare walls of the mountain became the walls of the sanctuary. In 1974 demolition and reconstruction of the Shrine was overseen by architect Guido Tisato, preserving significant elements and maintaining the spiritual atmosphere and intention.

360 view here