Varallo

Varallo lies in the Sesia valley where the Mastallone joins the river. Above the town rises the Sacro Monte, a devotional complex founded in 1491 by the Franciscan Bernardino Caimi. Its chapels were intended to evoke the holy places of Palestine for those unable to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

After Caimi's death, artists and local patrons continued his ambitious work. The painter and sculptor Gaudenzio Ferrari created vivid scenes including the Crucifixion. In the later sixteenth century the complex was reorganized and new chapels were built; frescoes and painted figures represented episodes from the life and Passion of Christ. Work on the upper part continued into the seventeenth century, making the mountain a remarkable enduring place of pilgrimage and art.