The patroness of Viggiano is the Black Madonna of the Sacred Mountain, celebrated on the first Sunday of September. From the first Sunday of May the statue resides in the sanctuary at the summit of the Sacred Mountain, at 1,725 metres, reachable only on foot along a steep paved path; on the first Sunday of September she is carried back down to the town in procession, the «Virgin who descends from the mountain», also marked since 2016 by a monument to the bearers of the Madonna, unveiled in the presence of Bishop Georg Gänswein.
The sanctuary, one of the most important centres of Marian devotion in southern Italy, is also linked to the town's musical history: in the 19th century the people of Viggiano left as street musicians and became accomplished musicians worldwide, such as Leonardo De Lorenzo, a flautist and teacher at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, and Francesco Miglionico, a violinist at the court of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil.
