The Shrine of Nostra Signora della Guardia ("Our Lady of the Watch") is a Roman Catholic place of pilgrimage located on the top of Monte Figogna (804 m asl) in the Municipality of Ceranesi, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the city of Genoa, in the northwest of Italy.

The name “Guardia” in Italian means “watch”, and the shrine is so called because in the Middle Ages Mount Figogna was a strategic observation station for monitoring the movement of armies along the Valpolcevera and of ships on the sea in the approaches to Genoa.

From the pavement in front of the shrine, on a clear day, it is possible to look over all the Polcevera valley below, part of the city of Genoa, and the Ligurian Riviera.

[1] According to tradition, on August 29, 1490, the Virgin Mary appeared to a peasant called Benedetto Pareto and asked him to build a chapel on the mountain.

Then, in 1917, Benedict built a small temple in the gardens of the Vatican City where a statue of Our Lady of the Watch (given to the Pope by the Genoese people) was enshrined.

The frescoes in the dome, painted by the Lombard painter Pasquale Arzuffi (1897-1965), represent Mary surrounded by the Republic of Genoa patron saints.

In the church are also other statues representing the Virgin Mary and saints (St. John the Baptist, St. Joseph, St. Eusebius) and on the left of the high altar, a black procession crucifix.