Madonna della Corona, the sanctuary suspended in the rock

It is one of those religious places that once visited are difficult to forget, due to its location and its historical and spiritual dimension. Built at an altitude of 774 metres on the slopes of Monte Baldo, the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Corona appears among the rocky walls that dominate the Adige Valley, as if it were an integral part of the mountain itself. Its origins date back to the time of the hermits who found refuge in the natural cavities of the rock face around the year 1000, and over the centuries it gradually expanded until it assumed its current appearance: today it is an international pilgrimage destination, with more than 200,000 visitors a year, and the cradle of reliquaries and silver candlesticks from the 18th and 18th centuries that make up the treasure of the Knights of Malta (to whom we owe the conversion from convent to sanctuary in 1600). Until 1922, the only possible access was the Sentiero della Speranza (Path of Hope), the ancient mediaeval road that climbs more than 1,800 steps from Brentino and allows one to reach the sanctuary at a leisurely pace (a two-hour walk) and not by car (one parks in the village of Spiazzi and walks down the carriage road for about twenty minutes). A team of volunteers coordinated by Monsignor Signoretto (historical memory and fine narrator of the Madonna della Corona) accompanies guided tours on the hermit's path around the complex, and not to be missed, on 24 June, is the re-enactment of the descent from the rocky spur with a 65-metre rope pull: in medieval times, a crane powered by a system of pulleys was used to lower material and people down to the sanctuary.

https://www.madonnadellacorona.it/