In the square in front of the church, once used as a panoramic terrace of the Roman villa, stands a bronze stele with a statue of the Madonna, placed here in 1979 to replace the previous one, which was destroyed by lightning during a violent stormy night and later mysteriously disappeared. The transport of the new statue, approximately five metres high and weighing eleven quintals, was an extraordinary undertaking: it was carried out with the help of a U.S. Navy helicopter, a Sikorsky RH-53-D. From this point, the view stretches across the Sorrento Peninsula and the Gulf of Naples.