Two inscriptions on the side walls of the church set out its history:
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✴The first (on the right) records that Bishop Salvatore granted indulgences of 50 days to those visiting the church and making offerings "for the cult and the decorum of this image". The only Bishop Salvatore since 1797 was Salvatore Frattocchi (1903-41).
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✴The second (on the left) records that an ancient image of the Virgin nearby was seen to move its eyes in 1797. As a result, the people of Orvieto built this shrine in 1797.
This sketchy history has much in common with the Madonna del Campione of Todi, which was similarly seen to move its eyes in 1796. (Miracles of this sort were reported in many places in Italy as Napoleon's army invaded). The image at Todi (and so presumably also the image at Orvieto) was placed above the “campione di misura”, which were used for the periodic checking weights and measures, in order to stimulate the honesty of the traders who used them. It was apparently destroyed in a fire in 1904. [Could Bishop Salvatore retrieved it and moved it here?]
[Pericle Perali gives the alternative name of the church as "di Reto Parino" ??]
