Anecdotes about the Virgin Mary

"The Virgin of the Guard and the peasant Pareto"

Genoa (Italy)

Above Genoa, atop Mount Figogna, stands the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Guardia, one of the most beloved in Liguria and a destination for countless pilgrims. According to tradition, the devotion originated from an encounter between the Virgin Mary and a simple farmer.

Genoese tradition tells that the Virgin Mary appeared to a humble peasant named Benedetto Pareto, asking him to build a chapel in her honor on that hill. From that encounter and that request sprang the sanctuary which, over the centuries, became a major pilgrimage center in the Genoese region.

Caution is advised. The source for this page retains only the essential facts—the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Guardia in Genoa and the name of the visionary, Benedetto Pareto—without providing a detailed account or extensively distinguishing between documented and traditional accounts. For the sake of accuracy, it should be noted that the apparition to Pareto belongs to the devotional tradition of Genoa, while the existence of the sanctuary and its pilgrimage is a proven fact. Precise dates, details of the narrative, and specific miracles are not provided in the source with the necessary rigor to confirm them.

As in so many Italian Marian shrines, it is reasonable that the Rosary has its place in the local piety; but a specific historical link of the Madonna della Guardia with the Rosary is not mentioned in the source.