Sacro Monte di Varallo
The Sacro Monte di Varallo stands on a rocky spur above Varallo, in Valsesia, in the province of Vercelli; it is the oldest and most important Sacro Monte in the Alpine arc and has been part of the UNESCO site of the Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy since 2003.[1]
The New Jerusalem
It was founded by the Milanese Franciscan Bernardino Caimi, former guardian of the Holy Sepulchre, to reproduce the holy places of Palestine in Valsesia.[1] A brief of Innocent VIII dated 21 December 1486 authorized him to accept donations from the people of Valsesia; on 14 April 1493 the community of Varallo donated the site to him, by which time the convent, three chapels and the Holy Sepulchre had already been completed.[2]
Gaudenzio Ferrari and the Counter-Reformation
In the early sixteenth century Gaudenzio Ferrari combined painting and sculpture with strong realism, and his work became the model for the other Sacri Monti.[1] Between 1565 and 1572 Galeazzo Alessi redesigned the complex, and from 1593 the Bishop of Novara, Carlo Bascapè, turned it into a catechetical path in keeping with the Council of Trent; Saint Carlo Borromeo visited it in 1578 and 1584.[3][4]
Today
The complex includes a basilica and 45 frescoed chapels with more than eight hundred statues, on which Tanzio da Varallo, the d'Enrico brothers, Il Morazzone and Benedetto Alfieri also worked.[1] It covers 22 hectares at an altitude of between 455 and 650 metres, is owned by the City of Varallo, has been a regional protected area since 1980, and admission is free and open to all.[1]
Related articles: Sanctuary of Oropa