Varese’s Sacro Monte, one of the nine religious complexes situated on the slopes of the Piedmont and Lombardy Alps and included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, is a religious itinerary dedicated to the Mysteries of the Rosary which encompasses 14 richly decorated chapels erected during the late 16th and 17th centuries. In addition to its symbolic and spiritual meaning, this is a place of great beauty by virtue of the skill with which they have been integrated into the surrounding natural landscape of hills, forests and lakes. They also house important artistic material in the form of wall paintings and statuary. Sacro Monte has been a site of worship for centuries, with legends attributing its origins to Saint Ambrose of Milan.
Sacro Monte boasts the presence of the inhabited village of Santa Maria del Monte, with its characteristic shady lanes and steep stairways, subways and numerous Art Nouveau villas.

Here you will also find the Lodovico Pogliaghi House-Museum, an atelier where a great eclectic artist of the 20th century retired and worked for decades, creating a unique collection that culminates in the life-size plaster cast of the door of Milan Cathedral.