The Sacred Mountains, listed in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, are peculiar places of worship, located in Piedmont, in the provinces of Vercelli, Alessandria, Novara, Turin, Biella and Verbano Cusio Ossola and in Lombardy, in the provinces of Varese and Como.
They have been realised between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries with the aim to strengthen the influence and the spread of Catholicism, transforming simple and already existing structures in original complexes, adorned with statues and paintings with religious themes.
They can be conceived as paths of worship, passing through a series of chapels, surrounded by magnificent landscapes, leading to the sanctuary or the church.
In Piedmont, among the most important complexes of this type, is the Sacred Mountain of Varallo, decorated by a leading local artists of the sixteenth century, Gaudenzio Ferrari, and consisting of 45 chapels, the Basilica dedicated to the Our Lady of the Assumption and other buildings. The complex is located on the top of a suggestive cliff overlooking the whole village of Varallo. In addition, in the region of Piedmont, it is also possible to follow the evocative itineraries of the Sacred Mountains in Serralunga di Crea, Orta San Giulio, Oropa, Griffa, Domodossola and Belmonte in Valperga. While in Lombardy there are the Sacred Mountains of Ossuccio and Varese.