As early as 1885, the English mountaineer Douglas Freshfield followed the road that leads to the Sanctuary through the vineyards and defined it as "one of the most beautiful roads in the world" in the British Alpine Club Magazine. 

This majestic Sanctuary was designed by an unknown Lombard architect, maybe related to the Jesuit College in Ponte in Valtellina. 

The facade, wide and very high, is the most impressive and diverse part of the building: it has a Baroque portal made of soapstone and carved by  G. Maria Tamagnino from Bormio (1714), with shutters coated by embossed copper foils.
The temple has a Latin cross plan with a dome. The dome preserves a small temple portraying the Santa Casa built in 1701 and modelled on the Santa Casa di Loreto. it is a chapel with two side entrances, covered by a barrel vault that features a frescoed starry sky. A niche houses the statue of the Black Virgin.