Sacro Monte and Campo dei Fiori

The Regional Park Campo dei Fiori, extending between the city of Varese in its Southern part and Valcuvia and Valganna respectively in the Northwestern and Eastern parts, is a green area rich in woods of beech and chestnut trees, and in wetlands as well, hosting interesting and diversified bird species.

ALTITUDE

245 m

FOUNDATION YEAR

1604

NUMBER OF CHAPELS

The park includes two mountain “massifs” – Campo dei Fiori and Martica, between which Valle della Rasa extends, the place of origin of river Olona – not lacking relevant architectural and historic heritage. One of the most renowned is Sacro Monte, which since year 2003 features in the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Sacro Monte consists in a religious complex of 14 chapels consecrated to the Mysteries of the Rosary, which mark the ascent of the mountain in an itinerary covering almost two kilometers in length, named “Via Sacra”. Imitating the five-decade Holy Rosary, the chapels are also divided in groups of five units (the true sanctuary constitutes the fifteenth and last stop) and the pattern winds its way through fountains and triumphal arcs recalling the Mannerist style. The statues and the frescoes which enrich the chapels, designed by coeval major artists, manufacturers and sculptors,

witness the Seventeenth century sacred art in the Region of Lombardy. The entire complex was in fact completed in 1698, with a style attributable to Mannerism and Baroque. Before reaching the Sanctuary, it is worth to pay a visit to Casa Museo Lodovico Pogliaghi, located after the last chapel: a rich collection of Renaissance and Baroque statues and frescoes, along with plasters and sketches by artist Lodovico Pogliaghi. The Sanctuary Santa Maria del Monte, renowned pilgrimage destination since the Middle Ages,

is located in a small village still showing traces of the original medieval foundations. The Sanctuary is built at 844 m a.s.l. and it’s reachable from the city using a funicular whose station of departure is placed in correspondence to the first chapel of the “Via Sacra”. In the village, on the other hand, visitors will find the Baroffio Museum of Sacro Monte, exhibiting its rich collections of paintings, sculptures, sketches, codes, coins, furniture pieces and ceramics, in addition to a section dedicated to modern sacred art.