Sanctuary of Santa Maria infra Saxa, Genga

The Sanctuary of Santa Maria infra Saxa and the so-called Tempio di Valadier are two sanctuaries and chapel located at the entrance of the Frasassi Caves, a remarkable karst cave system in the municipality of Genga, in the province of Ancona, Marche, Italy.

The sanctuary and chapel are located within a few dozen meters of each other, on a ledge entrance to the Frasassi cave system.

It is a simple stone structure built by Benedictine monks to house a burned image of the Madonna.

A Tempietto or small octagonal temple on the site was first proposed in 1817 by the future Pope Leo XII, who was originally from Genga.

However, in 2016 a study of previously unexamined archives by Maria Cristina Cavola revealed that Valadier had absolutely nothing to do with the building: it was rather an accretive design to which a series of local architects and project managers made successive contributions.