According to the tradition, as recorded in several documents, the Blessed Virgin appeared on the hill twice to a peasant worker named Vincenza Pasini; the first time occurred on March 7, 1426, the second on August 1, 1428.

Mary promised that if people of Vicenza built a church on the top of the hill she would rid them of the plague.

It was designed by the architect Carlo Borella (1688) and was decorated by the sculptor Orazio Marinali from Bassano.

The next day, Francesco Malipiero, the bishop of Vicenza, gave the chapel the name that still exists today.

The statue of the Virgin Mary was sculpted by Nicolò da Venezia in 1430, two years after the second apparition to a local peasant named Vincenza Pasini.

The original basilica has been restored repeatedly during the centuries, sometimes with famous architects such as Palladio, Piovene and Miglioranza.

The stairs constructed in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1595 were ordered by Giacomo Bragadin, a leading figure of the Republic of Venice in Vicenza.