The Sacro Monte of Varese with the Via del Rosario, built in the seventeenth century, ist absolute the most important journey of Marian faith located in the area of Insubria and it’s UNESCO World Heritage since 2003.The village of Santa Maria del Monte (887 m.a.s.l.) located on top of a medieval conception of the sacred mount, consecrated according to legend or tradition in the year 389 by St. Ambrose to the mother of the son of God, who first celebrated the Eucharist on the mountain, to thank Our Lady for the victory over Arian heresy, in a small chapel where today is located the Sanctuary, whose construction began in 1605.In "Factory" of the Holy Mountain is the testimony of many artists of the time: Dionigi Bussola, who also worked on the construction of the Cathedral of Milan and the Sacred Mountains of Orta and Varallo, the Swiss Francis Silva, who with Christopher Prestinari made the statues of clay Chapels.Among the most important painters who decorated the walls we find Antonio Busca from Milan, Paolo Ghianda from Como, Carlo Francesco Nuvolone, Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli, Stefano Maria Legnani from Varese, Federico and Isidoro Bianchi da  Campione d’Italia.
The way of chapels -  before the climb along the path of 2.200 meters of cobblestone, there is the beautiful church dedicated to Mary Immaculate (1604-1609) by the architect Bernasconi with sculptures and paintings of Francesco Silva and brothers Lampugnani. The ancient use of this church  was  to welcome the pilgrims before the climb. At the entrance of the way there is an arc, the door of the Rosary, which introduces the joyful mysteries with the statues of the Madonna and Child, St. Dominic and St. Francis. Very close  to the third Chapel you can admire the beautiful painting by Renato Guttuso "The Flight into Egypt", which was commissioned in 1983 by the  Archpriest Pasquale Macchi. The sorrowful mysteries are introduced from the arch of St. Charles, with his statue beside a fountain. After the sixth chapel you find a cave with statues of the Blessed Catherine and Julian, the founders of the Monastery of Romite Ambrosiane, which is located on the top of the mountain. The statue of St. Ambrose, next to a fountain, symbolizing the archway leading to the glorious mysteries and on top of the last climb, the first bristling up leading to the Sanctuary, we find the statue of Moses going back to 1831.
The Sanctuary - The first pre-Romanesque church, consecrated to the Virgin Mary, was later rebuilt several times over the same area. In 1196, during the Romanesque period, by the sculptors Domenico and Lanfranco from Ligurno and in 1472 designed by the architect Bartolomeo Gadio from  Cremona,  thanks to Sforza, who became responsible for the cost, then in 1580 by architect Pellegrino Tibaldi, who edited extension in accordance with the decrees of the pastoral visit of St. Charles. The bell tower was built in 1589/99 by the architect Giuseppe Bernasconi, also said “il Mancino”.In the village of Sacro Monte of Varese are also two permanent exhibitions: The Baroffio Museum that collects several antique objects and furnitures in addition to the legacy of Baron Giuseppe Baroffio Dall'Aglio and a section of contemporary religious art (predominantly Marian).The old house where lived Luigi Pogliaghi, sculptor and painter who has linked his name to the bronze door of the Duomo and the central port of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, is now home to the Pogliaghi Museum, which collects archaeological remains, sculptures of Giambologna, a terracotta model by Bernini, paintings and some important works of Magnasco and Pogliaghi.
THE MONASTERY OF Romite Ambrosiane
Since 1400, when the Holy Mountain began to be a place of worship to the Virgin Mary, in in some caves of the ruggedness mountain  some women lived as hermits in solitude. Catherine of Pallanza, as a young woman who made a vow to consecrate herselve to God and responding to the Lord, who pointed to the Holy Mountain as the site chosen, decided to stay with the hermits who lived there. Later the outbreak of plague killed all the hermits, except Catherine, who came back to Pallanza and once healed, she returned to the hermitage on April 24, 1452, where she lived alone for more than two years, until the arrival of Julian from Busto-Verghera. The two hermits lived for many years an intense life of prayer and penance next to the sanctuary, seeing the pilgrims who came to the Holy Mount. Meanwhile other Romite joined Catherine and Juliana and the small community got to follow the Rule of St. Augustine and the Constitutions of the Order of Saint Ambrose by Nemus, an ancient Ambrosian congregation of monks.On November 10, 1474 Pope Sixtus IV gave permission for the erection of the monastery and 10 August 1476 the hermits, with official religious profession, became nuns.The monastery was influenced over the centuries by historical facts and mentality of the time. First, the nuns opened a school which later became the College and in 1798 with the Cisalpine Republic saw themselves deprived of an official recognition of their existence as a religious, thus becoming custodians of the place until February 5, 1822, when the monastery was restored thanks to the tenacity of Mother Marianne Staurenghi Florinda.The Second Vatican Council asked to recover its original identity and accepting this invitation, the Romite closed the college in 1969 and began the revision of the constitutions that led to the recovery the primitive identity contemplative, the Ambrosian spirituality, as well as the values underlying the monastic life .Since by the erection of the Monastery the  Romite follow the Ambrosian rite and live with special features on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, which are like a repeat of the Easter Triduum throughout the year.The Monastery is for the Romite as a small village on the mountain, clinging to the rock, built over the centuries so picturesque, unregulated, with stairs, climbs and descents everywhere .Here the thirty Romite cultivate the gardens to the rock with the terrrazza, raise a few animals from the stable, dealing with the management of the monastery and also working in  a laboratory for the restoration, leads by experienced nuns.For some years attached to the Monastery there is a center of spirituality for those who want to live a few hours or days of prayer, silence and meditation alongside the Romite, sharing a few moments in the Liturgy of the Church, each independently organize its own program of permanence, considering only the times for participation in the monastic liturgy.There is no fixed line and in the spirit of fraternal sharing the Romite ask that everyone leave the offer according to their means, in order to enable them to continue this service.For individulal reservations or for small groups of guests, please  contact the Monastery.Phone/ Fax 0332-227678