Bishop Gerardo Grassi assigned the icon to a small hermitage chapel in 1160, and a church was begun in 1193. Carlo Francesco Dotti designed the present church, dated to 1723, and his son Giovanni Giacomo Dotti built the side tribunes from his plans. The plan is centralized, and the article names no style or structural materials. Stucco work is credited to Borelli and Calegari, and statues to Angelo Piò.
The sanctuary stands on the Colle della Guardia, about 300 meters above the plain. A portico of 666 arches, 2.4 miles (3.8 km) long, climbs to it and was built from 1674 to 1793. UNESCO inscribed it with the Porticoes of Bologna in 2021.
The Dominicans held the site from 1294 to 1799. A cable car ran from 1931 to 1976, and the sanctuary remains a pilgrimage site.
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