A will from 1197 mentions a donation to those of Venda and documents the presence of a religious settlement at the top of the highest hill.
The first monk to retreat to this place was Adam of Torreglia, who lived until 1160 inside a cave located at the summit.
In 1209, Stephen, former prior of Santa Giustina, and brother Alberico built two small churches dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel and St. John the Baptist, and from 1229 the small hermitage became a proper monastery under the Rule of St. Benedict.
The legacies from the noble Maltraversi of Castelnuovo and, later, the family of Carraresi increased its importance, and in place of the first two churches, a more imposing one was built dedicated to St. John the Baptist. In 1380, it was entrusted to the congregation of the Olivetans, an aristocratic order and skilled painters and woodcutters.
The church, with a single rectangular nave and a powerful bell tower, had an altar, a carved wooden choir, a presbytery with sculpted trachyte pilasters, and, beneath the main altar, the crypt dedicated to the Madonna. The monastery, grand and austere in design, was organized into corridors, cells, storerooms, a cloister, and gardens.
After a long peaceful period lasting until 1771, the Republic of Venice suppressed the monastery, relocated the monks, and auctioned off the monastery and its lands, which were purchased by the Erizzo family. The monumental complex became a refuge for shepherds and inevitably fell into ruin.
