The Sacred Mountain of Varallo

filled by Giulia & Romeo

Great idea for a pre Easter weekend, having regard to the religiosity of the place, but for those who want to live more in solitude and with few tourists, perhaps it is better for the rest of the year. If you have already made a trip to Palestine will be astonished to discover that Italy Monte Sacro so rich in history, chapels, statues, religiously spiritual atmosphere. Arriving on the Mount taking a funicular from Varallo Sesia, a Piedmont town worth a visit before or after the ascension of the mountain. Otherwise can be reached in twenty minutes on foot or going up comfortably by car. Within minutes you find yourself away from the world and everyday life, immersed in a sacred and ancient atmosphere.
Beloved by Vittorio Sgarbi, who talked about it on youtub, the monumental complex of the Sacred Mountain rises to 608 meters, on a rocky outcrop overlooking Varallo and offers very suggestive glimpses of the city, Sesia Valley and Mount Rose. It is an integral part of the Special Nature Reserve, established in 1980 by the Piedmont Region.
It is the oldest of the sacred Italian mounts a model for other complex growing out along the Alps, created in 1491 from an idea by Bernardino Caimi. The Franciscan friar, returning from a trip to Palestine, in Varallo thought to repeat those places and commemorate the life and Passion of Christ. Thus arose, in the heart of the Sesia Valley, a "New Jerusalem" for the benefit of the faithful who could not travel to the Holy Land, then under the turkish domino, thepilgrims could re-live this way in the "great mountain theater" the Gospel with wonder and emotional involvement.
The passion includes 44 chapels, isolated or placed in more structured architectures, and is carried on stage by 800 statues in wood and polychrome terracotta-size figures of 4000 ‘ frescoes’. The itinerary among the chapels is divided into two distinct parts: the first from the chapel N. 1 (Adam and Eve) to N. 19 (Entry of Christ into Jerusalem) is found at the park's most rugged and fully immersed in the Reserve, and the second covering the top of the Mountain is accessed from the Porta Aurea and is organized as a city: buildings, arcades, squares and the Court of the Temple, chapels telling episodes from the life of Christ took place within the walls of Jerusalem (The Last Supper, Sepulcher, the Resurrection, the Assumption of Mary). The Basilica of the Assumption, the center of the temple complex, is the ideal point of arrival of the pilgrim.
Each chapel is an episode in the life of the Passion of Jesus, and
complex scenes were done with groups of frescoes and wooden statues or painted terra-cotta, in size and strong expressive power, very similar to human figures, with real hair and beards.
Worked on famous artists, not just local; stands out among all Gaudenzio Ferrari (1471/75 - 1546), a Valsesian painter, sculptor and architect who worked on the opera from 1499, the year of death of the founding father Caimi, 1529, when he moved to Vercelli.
Visiting the Holy Mountain you can begin a personal journey of ascent from the chapel of Adam and Eve to go to the Annunciation and the episodes of Christ's life, culminating in the high drama of the Passion, expressed in several episodes that tell the last hours of Christ on earth until the resurrection. At the conclusion of the visit the Tomb of the Virgin.
Since 2003, the Sacred Mountain of Varallo is listed as a UNESCO protected world heritage interest.