Madonna della Corona Near Verona: a Sanctuary Built Into a Cliff at 774 Metres, Reached From the Valley by 1,860 Steps

From a distance it looks as if someone glued the church to the rock. The sanctuary of Madonna della Corona stands on the slopes of Monte Baldo, in the province of Verona, at around 774 metres above sea level, tucked beneath a wall of stone that rises above it. Anyone who has been to Ostrog, in Montenegro, will recognise the picture: faith that took shelter where it is hardest to reach.

The history begins with hermits. Around the year 1000, hermits linked to the Abbey of San Zeno in Verona lived in these cliffs. By the second half of the 13th century there was already a monastery here and a small chapel dedicated to Saint Mary of Montebaldo. Pilgrims reached it along a narrow path carved into the rock, and new approaches and a larger church were built only between the 15th and 16th centuries.

The statue from Rhodes that may not be from Rhodes. The heart of the sanctuary is a Pietà - the Virgin with the dead Christ in her lap - 70 centimetres tall, made of painted local stone and traditionally dated to 1432. Legend says it arrived miraculously from Rhodes. The sanctuary itself admits that this story doesn't fully match other historical sources. Rare honesty for a place that lives off pilgrims.

From Gothic to rebuild. At the end of the 19th century the church was enlarged and given a Gothic-inspired facade, but most of it was rebuilt between 1975 and 1978. In 1982 it was granted the status of a minor basilica, and in 1988 Pope John Paul II visited. Many of the white marble pieces are the work of sculptor Ugo Zannoni.

How to get there. The easiest route starts from the village of Spiazzi, at 864 metres, which means above the sanctuary - you walk down, about 15 minutes on foot. You can take the historic steps through the woods or the paved road past the bronze Stations of the Cross. For those who don't want to walk, bus 499 runs from Spiazzi, about ten minutes.

And for those who want a real pilgrimage, there is the Path of Hope, the Sentiero della Speranza. It starts down in Brentino Belluno, has 1,860 steps and around 600 metres of climbing. It's a test of the knees that pilgrims have taken for centuries, with no cable cars and no car parks.

Madonna della Corona doesn't ask you to be a believer. It asks for comfortable shoes and a little patience. The reward is a church hanging between the sky and the valley, and the feeling that someone a thousand years ago chose the hardest possible address - and pulled it off.