From the late 15th century on through the early 18th century, Northern Italy built a number of sanctuaries as alternative places of worship in Europe to the Holy Land, which was becoming increasingly difficult for pilgrims to access owing to the rapid expansion of Islamic control over the Middle East. These Sacred Mountains were not just religious complexes, but also impressive architectural and artistic achievements. I’ve never found a chance to visit one in the past, but since this most recent trip to Italy had been expressly built around catching up with various World Heritage properties in Lombardy and Piedmont, Sacri Monti were given a prominent spot in my program.
All of the nine sites on the UNESCO inscription are technically within day-trip distance from Milan, with anywhere from one to two hours of driving between neighboring locations. Within the constraints of the autumn daylight, three Sacri Monti in a space of a single day was probably the limit – and that was what I originally planned.
I started with Varallo, the original Sacro Monte, imagined as the “New Jerusalem”. It comprises 46 chapels dedicated to the key events in the last few weeks of the life of Jesus Christ. I did not figure out how to see the chapels in their numbered order – and, honestly, never intended to view them all. The lower-numbered ones are free-standing buildings on the path towards the complex center, while the progression continues through a couple of main squares of the sanctuary.
It should be noted that the visuals above have no people in them not because of my habit of removing strangers from my shots, but because I was quite literally the only visitor to the place on a crisp November Saturday morning. The attendants operating the funicular that connects the village with the sanctuary had to grudgingly run it for a single person in both directions.
Inside each chapel is a sculptural composition depicting one of those key events, with walls painted in a way to make the display into a sort of diorama. Here are several examples in no specific order.
Each chapel is marked with an information board indicating what scene is depicted, and I suspect that seeing them in order follows the narrative found in the latter parts of the Four Gospels.
One small problem for the visitor is that you can only view the contents of any chapel from behind an ornate grille. Small apertures almost nowhere allow seeing the entire scene at once. You have to peep into multiple apertures in order to see various parts of each sculptural composition, and appreciating their full scale requires mental image merging. For photography, pushing in the lenses through the openings worked only so-so in cases of a small chapel containing a larger scene.
The Basilica dell’Assunta presides over the sanctuary.
Its interior is fairly elaborate, and the apse is uncommonly decorated with colorful sculptural groups in addition to the arched-ceiling paintings.
The edges of the Sacro Monte offer panoramic views of the village of Varallo.
A few meters from the lower station of the funicular stands Chiesa Santa Maria delle Grazie. While not part of the Sacro Monte, it has always been an important stop on the pilgrimage route to the “New Jerusalem”.
Before leaving Varallo, I perused for about half an hour the Saturday flea market, and then proceeded to Lake Orta, my second target for the day.
Sacro Monte d’Orta San Giulio has a very different feel compared to its counterpart in Varallo. Its 21 chapels are spread apart as standalone buildings within a large, pleasant park. There is also a botanical garden on the premises, and plenty of terraces with sweeping views over the lake. While the sanctuary complex was certainly built with spiritual goals in mind, it is also a great option for the simple activity of walking in the park.
There were a few people here and there, seemingly just enjoying a nice autumn day. I also saw a couple of touring groups, but the park is large enough that I easily avoided them.
Behind the grille partition of each chapel are scenes from the key events in the life of Saint Francis of Assisi.
Orta’s sanctuary is unique among the Sacri Monti in that it is not dedicated to either the Madonna or Christ. The information boards are significantly more descriptive here, since even the most devout Christian can hardly be as familiar with a biography of a saint, no matter how prominent, as he would be with the life of Christ. For a non-believer, there is not a shred of recognition of the scene in front of you, which potentially enhances its artistic impression, given that you are unlikely to readily recall a work of art depicting the same scene that this particular sculptural group would appear inferior to. Unfortunately, at some point, I stopped figuring out how best to capture the scenes through the partitions – and ended up with limited photographic output from Sacro Monte di Orta.
The main church of the complex was modeled to resemble the Lower Basilica of San Francisco d’Assisi. I’ve been and can see the resemblance, on a more muted scale.
Here is the view of the church from the lake.
And the opposite view from the terrace at the edge of the park to the lake and Isola San Giulio.
I spent some time exploring the village of Orta San Giulio and went to the island on the lake. That was always part of the plan for the day, and it rendered the original intent to visit at least one more sanctuary invalid. By the time I was ready to leave Orta, I could only expect to reach another sanctuary by twilight. The two closest to Orta, Sacro Monte di Varese (yet another different flavor, a sanctuary not standing apart but incorporated into a hilltop village), or Sacro Monte della Santissima Trinità in Ghiffa, would definitely demand more time than what was left in the day. So I had to be content with visiting just two.
We will look at Orta San Giulio in a separate installment.