Our Lady
of the Watch

August 29, 1490 the Virgin Mary appeared to a peasant called Benedetto Pareto and asked him to build a chapel on the mountain. Pareto was surprised and replied that he was only a poor man and would not be able to do that. But the Virgin Mary exhorted him by saying

“Do not be afraid!”

Even so, Pareto returned home and spoke to no one about the apparition.

July 1, 1490
A few days later he fell from a tree and was seriously injured. Our Lady appeared to him again and he was miraculously healed. The event prompted him to tell about the apparition and seek help in building a chapel.

The first chapel was built by Pareto himself in the same place of the apparitions. It is a small rectangular building with a wooden roof, now incorporated into a new chapel.

Monte Figogna, Italy

Sanctuary raised to Minor Basilica on March 11, 1915.