Avola's ruins were gloomy and buried in loneliness, as the famous French traveller Jean Houel, who visited them, asserted. Monk Sebastiano Li Gioi, in order to revitalize and give sacredness to that place, decided to built the hermitage on the hill. The reconstruction work tookplace in 1729. Initially used to accomodate the novices, it later became a place for contemplation and prayer. The dormitory was then named "Eremo Madooan delle Grazie" for finding under a great rock a handbell and a hard low-relief showing the Graces' Virgin. In 1896 in this site was built a votive aedicula. The niche looks onto the hairpin turns going from Avola Antica to Avola where, in the second half of the XX century, it used to take place "Coppa Belmonte" uphill car races.

(source: Avola, la città esagonale)