If one day you will pass from Lombardia, you should spend some time in the Province of Varese where you will surely find some interesting places. We will dedicate a big space to Varese and its surroundings and we will try to tell as much as possible about it in our blog. Varese is a very heterogeneous territory and its biggest fortune is the Lake Maggiore, surrounded by the Alps. Its closeness to the lake, to the mountains and to Swiss’ borders makes Varese a land of tourism.This article is about Sacro Monte (Sacred mountain), which stands right above the city of Varese and the lakes. In 2003 Sacro Monte was classified in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. At the top of the mount there is a little and welcoming medieval village with nice restaurants, threee hotels and a bed & breakfast, surrounded by a wonderful view. Unfortunately, the day we visited Sacro Monte it was a little bit foggy so we couldn’t take pictures to give justice to the landscape. Sacro Monte is famous for the Holy Road, which is 2 km long on a plebby path, and its 14 Chapels built during the ‘600: each of them represents an episode of the Bible and has a different architecture with a particular attention to the details. The walk begins with the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception and ends with the Chapel dedicated to Maria’s Coronation, which is located inside the Sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The visit of Pope Giovanni XXII in 1984 has been a very significant event that consacreted the beatification of Sacro Monte, making it a place of worship.

HOW TO GET TO SACRO MONTE:

Getting there is easy and our advice is to walk along the Holy Road from the first Chapel. In alternative you can take the bus “Autolinee Varesine” line C (1.40 Euro). There is also a recently renewed funicolar that starts its ride near a parking at the first Chapel and ends at the top of the Mount (1 Euro). This is probably the best solution!

Stay tuned…the best is yet to come!