This hilltop north of Varese had long been a pilgrimage site for the faithful. But at the beginning of the 17th century, the Church and Lombardy’s Spanish rulers came up with the idea of creating a sacred way to lead up to this sacred mount, Sacro Monte del Rosario, one of a dozen or so built in the 16th and 17th centuries in Lombardy and Piedmont. The result is a cobbled 2km climb (the starting point is at 585m).
Fourteen chapels dotted along the way are representative of the mysteries of the Rosary (hence the name). At the end of the climb you can drink in the magnificent views with a well-deserved beer on the terrace of Ristorante Monforte.
