Varallo

At the head of the Sesia valley, where the Alps close in on Valsesia, Varallo keeps one of Europe’s most extraordinary sacred landscapes: a walled hill of frescoed chapels recreating the Holy Land in stone and paint. Below it, a medieval quarter of arcades and workshops adds a Renaissance pinacoteca and a striking programme of contemporary murals.

Why visit

Varallo’s magnetism lies in the combination of a great pilgrimage site with a genuine working mountain town. The Sacred Mount above the houses — the oldest of the Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy and a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2003 — remains one of the most moving art experiences in northern Italy: chapels staged like theatres, with life-size terracotta figures and frescoes that drew pilgrims for five centuries. Back in town, the artistic thread continues through churches that hold works by Gaudenzio Ferrari and his school, a civic art gallery where his canvases hang, and alleys whose walls now carry large-scale murals. Hikers and food travellers use it as the gateway to the high valley, and the tone of the place — unhurried, artisanal, alpine — is a good part of the reward.

Character and history

Varallo grew where the Sesia river leaves its gorge, a market town of the Valsesia under the Counts Biandrate and later the Dukes of Savoy, living on wool, iron and crafts. Its fame began in 1486, when the Franciscan Bernardino Caimi conceived a “small Holy Land” on the rocky spur above the town, so that those who could not reach Jerusalem could walk its stations in the Alps. Over the following centuries the site grew into a walled complex of chapels and two piazzas imitating Jerusalem, enriched by the greatest Lombard artists of their day: Gaudenzio Ferrari transformed the scenes with three-dimensional, life-size figures, and Galeazzo Alessi’s designs inspired the Counter-Reformation layout under Bishop Carlo Bascapé. The town below shares the artistic pedigree — its churches and the pinacoteca hold cycles by Ferrari and by his follower Tanzio da Varallo — while the artisan tradition survives in puncetto lace, wooden carving and soapstone work still sold in the Bottega dell’Artigianato.

What to see

The Sacred Mount of Varallo is the essential destination: an outdoor Way of the Cross rising through forty-five chapels holding hundreds of statues and more than four thousand painted figures, capped by the basilica at the summit. Reserve ahead for the Crucifixion chapel, the masterpiece of the whole ensemble. In the old town, the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie preserves a late-Gothic conventual interior with a frescoed rood screen, while the Collegiate Church of San Gaudenzio serves the parish from its high nave. The Church of San Marco, frescoed at the entrance to the borgo, welcomes walkers arriving from below. Art lovers should head for the Pinacoteca di Varallo and the adjoining Museo Calderini, which share the Palazzo dei Musei and gather paintings, natural history and archaeology; the Pinacoteca’s Ferrari holdings are the highlight. Between sights, cross the Antonini Bridge, the historic stone span over the Mastallone stream, and hunt out the murals of the Waral Urban Art Project, which threads contemporary painting through the medieval streets. A short drive out of town, the Renaissance Oratory of the Madonna di Loreto makes a quiet coda.

How to experience

Plan the Sacred Mount as a half-day: the climb on foot from the town takes about twenty minutes by the historic paths, and the route up is part of the experience, though a cable car from town has been intermittently closed — check the sanctuary’s site for its current status. Book a guided tour of the chapels for access to the frescoed interiors that individual visitors see from doorways, and allow time afterwards to sit on the walls looking down the valley. Dedicate the morning of a second day to the Pinacoteca and the contrade of the old town, then follow the riverside lanes to the workshops. Local cooking leans on Vercelli rice, Gattinara wine and alpine cheeses — a risotto lunch before the climb is the local pattern.

Practical planning

Varallo is reached by the SS299 valley road from the motorway network near Romagnano, or by daily buses from Milan, Turin, Vercelli and Novara. The town is compact and walkable, though steep in places. Spring and autumn suit both the town and the chapels’ light; summer brings valley hikers, winter a hushed alpine quiet. Chapel openings, tour times and the cable-car status change with the season and restoration work, so confirm arrangements on the sanctuary’s website before travelling.

Nearby places

Down the valley, the cathedral city of Vercelli holds the Romanesque-Gothic basilica of Sant’Andrea and the rice-plain culture of the Po, and makes the natural onward stop. Over the ridge to the west, the shores of Lake Orta lie within easy reach by road.