The decision to build the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Graces was made following an event of great religious significance. A slate tablet depicting the Madonna and her Child, was found in this place on the 4 th May 1615. It burned incessantly for three days in a thorn bush without being consumed. "It is a miracle", the people shouted, and they wanted to erect a church. The work was entrusted to the architect Vincenzo Mirabella from Syracuse. The miraculous table slate is placed on a golden altar placed in the monumental pyramid. Dating back to the early seventeenth century, the lateral portal is richly decorated in late Renaissance style, especially in the area below the broken pediment. Also from the same period, the bell tower to the left of the colonnade on the main elevation is in the same style. Our Lady of Graces was proclaimed the Main Patron of Modica by Episcopal Decree of the 3rd August 1627.