In the 16th century, the church underwent subsequent expansions, as would be demonstrated by the existing epigraph in the sacristy where it reads: «Hoc opus fecit Marcus Antonius Cervellino. 1524.» To it was added a protruding section, the current single nave covered with a wooden structure.
Description: Polychrome wooden statue attributed to a period oscillating between the late 14th century and the early 15th. The Madonna is depicted on a throne: with her left arm, she holds the Child to herself, and with her right, she supports an apple (now lost). The Child blesses with his right hand and holds a scepter with his left. The Virgin’s mantle is golden, as is that of the Child. The clothes are silvered with mecca work. The features of the Virgin’s face are very carefully done, and the veil descends from the head to rest on the shoulders. A damask band finishes the dress, emphasizing the development of the neck. On the base of the statue, the date 1507 is engraved, the era to which the new repaintings date back. The rigidly frontal composition refers to Eastern iconographies still common in Basilicata between the 14th and 15th centuries. If the composition is still generically Romanesque with late derivations from Lazian, Umbrian, and Abruzzese models, some elements, such as the slight inclination of the Virgin’s bust, the diagonal use: between the year 1350 and the year 1450
Image: Statue
Original location of the Sanctuary: Anciently, vows were hung on the walls of the sanctuary
Notes on the collection: The presence of ex-voto is attested in a 1546 document from the diocesan archive of Acerenza, transcribed by scholar Antonio Giganti, where reference is made to wax torches and representations of anatomical parts also in wax. Subsequent documents mention various types of ex-voto, such as funeral biers, painted tablets, wax sheets depicting parts of the human body, gold objects.
Types of ex-voto: Lights, Tablets or sheets with inscriptions, Painted tablets, Goldsmith objects, Anthropomorphic figurines, Other

The church is mentioned as a dependency of the Benedictine monastery of S. Angelo del Bosco in Avigliano (PZ) in an inventory of the monastery’s assets drawn up in 1414. With great probability, its origin can be traced back to the 13th century.
According to the rather obscure legend, the statue of the Virgin would have moved near Oppido in 1507, when San Pier d’Arena was bombarded. It settled on an oak tree on Mount Belvedere, where it was discovered by a peasant who had gone there to gather wood. The Madonna told the man that she wanted to be venerated on that mountain. The news spread, and all the inhabitants of Oppido went to the site of the discovery and decided to build a church in honor of the Virgin closer to the town. Once the chapel was completed, they transferred the statue there. The next morning, however, it was found again on the mountain. They went to retrieve it three times, and each time the statue was found on the mountain: only then did they understand that the Virgin wanted to be venerated there. And so, the new sanctuary was built on the mountain.
In the past, on the evening of the vigil of the feast, fires were lit in all the districts of the town while singing the Story of the Madonna. Anciently, daily pilgrimages to the sanctuary took place between Easter Tuesday and Ascension, that is, throughout the period of the statue’s stay in the town. The pilgrimages occurred early in the morning, in the light of bundles of dry reeds lit like torches, reciting prayers and singing hymns in honor of the Madonna.
From September 10 to 26, 1949, a Marian pilgrimage took place with the statue of the Madonna del Belvedere in the centers of the Archdiocese of Acerenza.
On June 16, 1989, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the coronation of the Marian statue, the Apostolic Penitentiary granted a plenary indulgence to those who made a pilgrimage to the sanctuary.
In a pastoral visit of 1781, as well as in subsequent 19th-century documents, the sanctuary is mentioned as a church under royal patronage.
The exact era in which the sanctuary passed under the direct patronage of the Apostolic Chamber is not known: probably, already in the first decades of the 15th century, following the suppression of the monastery of S. Angelo del Bosco.
The church probably belonged to the original patrimonial endowment of the Benedictine monastery of S. Angelo del Bosco in the territory of Avigliano (PZ). It is mentioned in the inventory of the monastery’s assets drawn up in 1414.

Via Bari, 16, 85015 Oppido Lucano PZ, Italy