The origins of the Sanctuary of Monserrato date back to the first half of the seventeenth century and are connected to the cult of the Virgin with dark skin, venerated in Montserrat in Spain and in Oropa in Italy. Probably, following the serious plague epidemic that hit northern Italy and also these areas between 1628 and 1630, the people of Borgo decided to build a shrine to the Virgin in a place on the hill that since the Middle Ages was a destination for pilgrimages and was marked by a large cross, as evidenced by a map of 1565, preserved in the Municipality of Borgo San Dalmazzo.
Only a century later, in 1651 a document mentions the presence of the Sanctuary, referring to an almsgiving made by the Confraternity of Santa Croce in Roccavione that went in procession to the Sanctuary. The presence of a hermit is also attested from the eighteenth century. Beginning in the seventeenth century, the gradually expanded building: in 1831 the bell tower was built, in 1836 the church was surrounded by the portico, in the rear section of which is the chaplain’s house; in 1902 the little chapels of the Via Crucis were built along the ascent from the town to the Sanctuary.
The initial structure of the Sanctuary was very simple and had only one nave, a hermitage, and a sacristy. On the main altar, where there is now a precious icon, there was an ancient statue of the Virgin and Child on the knees, which is currently preserved and displayed in the museum of the parish of San Dalmazzo. From 1835 -36, the building was surrounded by four wings of arcades, for the use of the processions of the faithful. On the main front, above the portico, the façade has a striking fresco depicting the crucifixion, which has recently been restored.