The Sanctuary of Cibona sits in an isolated location, at the foot of Mount Urbano. It is in the middle of a beech forest, a short distance from Allumiere.
The Sanctuary was founded when the rock-alum quarry opened near the forest of Cibona, under the source of the Ortaccio. It was built thanks to Chigi, a pious and religious man who was particularly devoted to the Blessed Virgin. The first sacred place appeared at the beginning of the 16th Century, in a small cave at the foot of the quarry. This cave was "an opening of no more than ten palm-widths”. Agostino Chigi commissioned a fresco of Our Lady with Child and Apostles James and John to be painted here. It became known as Our Lady of Cibona, like the forest of the same name.
In 1636 the Council of Tolfa asked seven friars of Mount Senario to safeguard Our Lady of Cibona. The Brothers belonged to a Hermetic Order which was founded in 1592 as a reformation of the Servile Order. They requested and obtained permission to build the Hermitage and the Church. 
Domenico Castelli, known as "il Fontanino", a famous architect who restored the Church of St. Urban at the Caffarella for Pope Urban VIII Barberini, was called in to design the whole project. Due to a lack of space, the Sanctuary was built just above the cave where the image of Our Lady was kept. This fresco was transferred to the new church on 16th June 1647, thanks to Castelli’s clever intervention. After planning how to cut into the wall where the fresco had been painted, he designed and built a special machine which was majestically decorated to look like a throne.
Tales from that era say that the transfer was accompanied by a high procession of thirty-six people who, in the name of “reverence and devotion”, walked barefoot “in that place where a large volley of mortars was heard, and the large crowd kneeled in prayer as if they were one”.
Even the choir of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major was present, with a band of musical instruments from that era. In 1974, the Chapter of the Patriarchal Basilicas of the Vatican decided to crown Our Lady, in virtue of how much the sacred image was worshipped all over the territory.