Madonna della Misericordia Church dates back to the late Fifteenth century. In 1495 the local community sent the priest Don Giovanni Sanici da Berlanga to Rome. He belonged to the Spanish diocese called Oscomense, and he was based in Petriolo Castle. The aim of this mission was to make a donation of one of Don Giovanni Sanici’s properties to the Lateran Chapter.

During the pontification of Alessandro VI, precisely on 5th September 1495, Don Giovanni Sanici showed the certificate of the donation to the Lateran Chapter. Next year, by means of agreements made with the Municipality of Petriolo, the Confraternita della Misericordia (a Catholic brotherhood) asked and received the authorization to build a new church on Lateran soil. This new religious building would have been placed between Santa Maria del Basso church and San Martino church.

The emblem of the Lateran basilica is currently located over the church gate, to perpetuate its memory. From the report written by Monsignor Maremonti on July 23^rd, 1573 during his apostolic visit, it appears that the Sanctuary of Madonna della Misericordia was kept and preserved by the Confraternita della Misericordia. The work of the brotherhood was supported by a chaplain, whose duty was to celebrate Mass on public holidays and on three other days of the week; on Saturdays the Mass was celebrated in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The reconstruction work for the enlargement of the church started in 1780, on a project by the cameral architect Pietro Augustoni (1741-1815). The church was consecrated only in 1787. The plant was reduced to a single nave, which was lengthen about 6 meters. Lorenzo Bernasconi realized the stucco decorations, the chapels in the altars, the recesses and the statues. He was an associate of architect Augustoni, who moved to Petriolo permanently.

The facade is structured in three parts: on the top, an extravagant cornice defines the tympanum with central oculus; in the median zone, two couples of pillars of Tuscan order are erected, where two recesses stay in the middle. The recesses host the statues representing the Angel Gabriel and the Annunciation, created in 1951 by the self-taught and Petriolo-based artist Nello Cruciani. Below, other couples of pillars, with capitals of Tuscan order. In the middle, the embossed bronzed gate realized by the sculptor Sesto Americo Luchetti, from Macerata. This gate has been blessed by Pope Giovanni Paolo II on August 22^nd, 1979.

Structural restoration and consolidation works of the Sanctuary started in April 1920, guided by the architect Giuseppe Rossi, from Macerata. To this period belong the pictorial decorations of the tondi, characterizing the vault, and the decorations of the pendentives and the walls of the nave. All this was realized by the Pesaro-based painter Ciro Pavisa. On October 16^th, 1921 the Sanctuary was finally reopened for worship.