It stands on the oldest holy site in Monfalcone, linked to the discovery, on board a drifting boat in the Gulf of Panzano, of a statue of the Madonna and Child, now placed on the main altar. The first mentions date back to the 12th century. The vicissitudes of the area, steeped in clashes and invasions, led to the slow abandonment of the Pieve in favour of the church of Sant’Ambrogio, protected by the city walls. Renovation and extension work on the 14th-century building dates back to the Venetian period, including frescoes by Arsenio Nigris.
Rebuilt in 1844, the building, in neoclassical style and decorated with frescoes by the Venetian Sebastiano Santi, was damaged by bombing during the Great War. The Sanctuary passed to the Franciscan Friars in 1927. In 1943 Agostino Pegrassi depicted two pictorial moments representing the arrival of the statue of the Virgin, considered the founding moment of the first church of Marcelliana, and the vow for the plague of 1386.
