My six weeks across Northern Italy had seen me traveling by train, car, ferry and bus across countless cities and towns of the top half of Italy and fully made me fall in love with this country, having only ever visited once before briefly on a long weekend trip to Milan in 2022.
My final week of my trip was spent lakeside at Lake Garda, one of the two most iconic lakes of Northern Italy - the other being Lake Como, just a bit further west.
→ Check out my complete guide to visiting Lake Garda!
One of the best spots we visited during our time lakeside was the trek up the hill to the seriously cool Santuario Madonna della Corona. This magical sanctuary has probably come across your Instagram feed before, being built quite literally into the steep cliffs over Lake Garda. It's a surreal sort of place, a popular piligrimage destination, and today a peaceful and awe-inspiring placce to visit.
By car: We drove up to the Santuario Madonna della Corona from the shores of Lake Garda. From Garda, it's a half-hour drive up the hill to Spiazzi. There are a few free parking lots in Spiazzi; we parked in this one.
By bus: The 471 bus runs from Caprino Veronese to Spiazzi.
Whether you come by bus or by car, you have to walk the rest of the way from Spiazzi to the Santuario which is about a 20-minute walk downhill (bearing in mind you have to walk back uphill) or:
By shuttle: Alternatively, if you don't want to do the walk from Spiazzi (which I highly recommend for the beautiful views), a shuttle service runs between Spiazzi and the Santuario which takes about ten minutes.
→ Find the latest shuttle timetables between Spiazzi and the Santuario.
The Santuario Madonna della Corona is free to visit. Once you have walked down or taken the shuttle from Spiazzi, you are free to wander the church and grounds at leisure. The Santuario sits about 775 metres above sea level, and from the steps you can see down over Val d'Adige. Lake Garda is not visible from the church.
According to their website, there are daily religious services if that is something you're interested in.
The exact reason why the Santuario was built here is a bit of a local legend. According to Wikipedia:
Legend has it that a group of locals saw a light illuminate and heard an angelic choir coming from the rock face. Since the place was difficult to reach, they lowered themselves down with ropes to witness the spectacular presence of the mysterious statue. It was then decided to build a chapel on the exact spot where the sculpture in question had been found, in which to place it. The story became very popular, so much so that more and more pilgrims visited the place. However, the chapel, due to its position on the edge of a cliff, was very difficult to reach and so it was decided to build a path, with the famous “Ponte del Tiglio” and to dig steps into the rock, to facilitate the pilgrimage.
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Hi! I’m Jana, a Dutch-German-British-Canadian with a dream of seeing every country in the world. I am a storyteller, photographer and adventurer passionate about documenting and sharing my travels.
