The Sanctuary of Santa Maria del Sasso is located near Bibbiena.

The name of the sanctuary derives from the sighting, in 1347, of a white dove on a large rock and, by a little girl, of a “beautiful woman dressed in white.”

A first small church was built on the site in those years, by the hermit Martin.

Popular belief holds that these apparitions were a harbinger of the plague of 1348, a terrible calamity from which the town of Bibbiena remained miraculously immune thanks to their devotion to the Madonna del Sasso.

The original church was destroyed by fire in 1486. ​​Reconstruction and expansion of the current sanctuary began immediately, supported by Girolamo Savonarola, considered its founder. Savonarola wanted to expand the presence of the Dominican friars in that location. The new church was completed and consecrated in 1507 and is a splendid example of Renaissance religious architecture.

The large boulder was intentionally left inside the building and is still visible inside a specially built chapel. The Madonna del Buio, a wooden statue created in 1450 by the sculptor Cavalcanti, is venerated in the crypt of the Sanctuary.

The Sanctuary complex, consisting of the cloister, convent, and churches, has been recognized as a “National Monument” by the Italian State.