Nostra Signora Porta Paradisi, Neoclassical shrine and church in Asti, Italy

Nostra Signora Porta Paradisi is a sanctuary in Romanesque-Byzantine style, built from 1902 under engineer Giuseppe Gualandi and consecrated in 1912. It has three naves, two large chapels the size of the choir in a Latin cross plan, a transept 35.25 metres wide and a dome rising 41 metres, topped by a 4.5-metre lantern with a 3-metre statue of the Virgin by the Bolognese sculptor Milani. The small presbytery of the earlier church is grafted onto the apse.

Devotion to the fresco of the Madonna and Child on the San Marco gate, attributed to Gandolfino da Roreto, dates from the Middle Ages. In 1689 Asti's municipality planned a small temple around the gate; after opposition from the Carmelites and the defacement of the images on 20 October, the chapel was finished in spring 1690. The sanctuary was enlarged in 1693, and the present church was built from 1902 under engineer Giuseppe Gualandi, consecrated in 1912.

The name Porta Paradisi comes from the Latin title of the Marian image painted above the San Marco gate, which pilgrims reached by a wooden balcony in the 17th century. The fresco is attributed to Gandolfino da Roreto and shows the Madonna and Child between Saints Mark and Secondo. In 2002 the facade received mosaics and statues of saints of the Asti tradition by Marco Aru.

From the rear street, a wide staircase follows the route of the old road through the former Porta San Marco, passing an Ecce Homo image and the embedded stone of the legend before reaching a park with a reproduction of the Lourdes grotto. The crypt, built in 1930, is used for winter liturgy.

On the stepped path behind the church, a rough stone is set into the wall opposite an "Ecce Homo" votive image. A legend says a blasphemer threw the stone at the sacred image, which repelled it, fixing it where it remains.