This sanctuary, located in an enviable position on an amphitheater of hills overlooking the Sieci creek valley, shows itself to the visitor as a noble complex of buildings in which the parts belonging to the seventeenth century currently prevail. Moreover, it presents its fame as above all due to the apparitions of Our Lady which would have occurred at the end of the fourteenth century; event from which the fame of the place would have grown and in which greatest interest of place would reside. This at least is what appears in the explanatory panels placed around and within the sanctuary. However, having had some reading on the sanctuary, I was disappointed not to have found clues (except for a laconic two-lines hint in a panel at the entrance to the cloister) of a series of events, which in my opinion greatly increase the thickness and interest of the place. It isn't easy to find news about such events: the richest source I have identified is a book (only in Italian) by José Papi (who was rector of the sanctuary) published in 1989. If the area agrarian rites from at least the second century BC onwards would have taken place. According to tradition, moreover, some natural ravines would have hosted (9th century) some Irish Benedictine monks, who stayed here on their return from the Rome pilgrimage; among them Saint Donatus, who later became bishop of Fiesole, and his disciple Saint Andrew called "of Scotland". The agrarian rites, of remote origin (attended by large crowds from all over the area), are documented as persistent until much of the last century. Until 1914, in particular, during the main festival, which took place in May, the rites included the killing (in the sanctuary premises) of a calf, for which local communities were taxed in turn. But of all this the hasty visitor will have no news. What a pity!

I went there with my girlfriend. The road up was steep and exciting but we managed. Very beautiful view across the surrounding hills.