Sanctuary of Santa Maria infra Saxa, Religious hermitage near Genga, Italy.

The Sanctuary of Santa Maria infra Saxa is a chapel built directly into the rock face of Monte Frasassi, situated next to the octagonal Valadier Temple. The interior is modest, featuring a stone altar and a carved depiction of the Virgin and Child that dates from the 20th century.

Founded in 1029, this sanctuary served for centuries as a monastery for Benedictine nuns who inhabited the extensive rock complex. A fire in the 1940s damaged the original artwork, prompting a later reconstruction of its interior ornaments.

The Latin name "infra saxa" means "among the rocks", describing the position of the sanctuary at the entrance to the Frasassi cave system. Benedictine nuns lived here in enclosure from 1029, and the site later passed to the care of the Tempio di Valadier, built a few dozen metres away. A wooden Madonna kept inside until the 1940s was destroyed by fire and replaced by a stone copy.

The sanctuary and the octagonal Valadier temple stand a few dozen metres apart on the ledge at the entrance to the Frasassi cave system, in the municipality of Genga. The stone building is reached by a metal staircase with a railing that climbs to a small landing before the arched doorway. The rock face overhangs the roof, so the ground in front stays shaded.

When the octagonal Tempietto was built nearby, workers found a number of human skeletons in the opening of the cave, a detail recorded in accounts of the construction. The sanctuary itself is partly cut into the rock wall, so its stone masonry continues where the cliff begins.