Piedmont · Vercelli
Varallo
The capital of Valsesia, the oldest Sacro Monte in Europe and a forty-five-chapel devotional complex on the rock above town.
Known for
OLDEST SACRO MONTE
UNESCO Sacro Monte founded in 1491 by Bernardino Caimi, the prototype that all eight other Sacri Monti followed.
GAUDENZIO FERRARI
Valsesian painter and sculptor who produced the life-size statues and frescoes that filled the chapels until around 1529.
VALSESIA CAPITAL
Administrative and cultural anchor of the Valsesia, at the confluence of the Sesia and Mastallone under the Monte Rosa massif.
When to visit
Best · Apr–Oct
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Why come
Varallo sits where the Mastallone joins the Sesia, the capital of Valsesia and the gateway to the high valleys under Monte Rosa. The town carries the oldest of the nine Sacri Monti, founded in 1491 by the Franciscan friar Bernardino Caimi as a substitute Holy Land for pilgrims who could no longer reach Jerusalem. Caimi laid out simple rural chapels on the rock above town to reproduce the geography of the Passion.
A generation later, the Valsesia painter and sculptor Gaudenzio Ferrari took over the artistic direction. He produced life-size painted statues in wood and terracotta and fresco cycles that filled the chapels, working at Varallo until around 1529. The complex grew over four centuries into forty-five chapels, a minor basilica and more than eight hundred statues with four thousand frescoed figures.
UNESCO inscribed the Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy as a single serial site in 2003. A funivia connects the centro storico to the summit complex above.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Varallo’s letter yet.
One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.
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What to see
Sacro Monte di Varallo
Oldest of the nine UNESCO Sacri Monti, founded in 1491 by Bernardino Caimi, with forty-five chapels and more than eight hundred life-size statues.
Basilica del Sacro Monte
Minor basilica at the heart of the upper complex, focal point of the chapel circuit and the pilgrim route to the painted Holy Land.
Pinacoteca di Varallo
Civic painting collection in Palazzo dei Musei, including works by Gaudenzio Ferrari and his Valsesian school of sacred painting.
Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie
Late fifteenth-century church at the base of the Sacro Monte ascent, with frescoes by Gaudenzio Ferrari including the great Vita di Cristo wall.
Funivia del Sacro Monte
Cable car connecting the centro storico to the summit complex above town, the main vertical link between the lower city and the chapels.
The slow-trip planner
Building a trip? Find where Varallo fits in a slow Italy circuit.
Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.
Living here
- Population 6,912
- Off the beaten pathi
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest airport Turin, 1 h 47 min drive
- Regional capital Torino, 1 h 47 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 450 m
- Population: 6,912
- Surface area: 88.12 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Close by
More towns near Varallo
Gozzano
Province: Novara
The town at the southern tip of Lake Orta, with a ninth-century basilica for Saint Julian and a twelfth-century signaling tower above the water.
Alagna Valsesia
Province: Vercelli
A Walser village at 1,191 meters under Monte Rosa, settled from the Swiss Valais in the 13th century and known to off-piste skiers worldwide.
Gattinara
Province: Vercelli
The Alto Piemonte Nebbiolo town on volcanic soil between the Sesia and Monte Rosa, DOCG since 1990, with a tenth-century watchtower above the vines.
Orta San Giulio
Province: Novara
A Lake Orta promontory facing an islet with a Romanesque basilica, plus a UNESCO Sacro Monte of twenty Francis-of-Assisi chapels on the hill above.
Omegna
Province: Verbano-Cusio-Ossola
The Lake Orta town at 295 meters where Bialetti, Lagostina and Alessi turned a steel valley into Italy's household-goods capital.
🏛️ UNESCO
More UNESCO towns in Piedmont
Agliè
Province: Torino
A Canavese borgo at 330 meters whose Castello Ducale, a UNESCO Savoy residence since 1997, has been held by the d'Agliè since 1259.
Biella
Province: Biella
A wool city at 417 meters in the Alpine foothills, where the medieval Piazzo sits above the modern Piano, connected by a funicular since 1885.
Bra
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A Roero town at 290 meters where Carlo Petrini founded Slow Food in 1986 and the world's first gastronomic university now teaches food systems.
Domodossola
Province: Verbano-Cusio-Ossola
The Ossola capital at 272 meters at the foot of the Simplon Pass, with a UNESCO Sacro Monte on the hill above.
Ghiffa
Province: Verbano-Cusio-Ossola
A Lake Maggiore lakeside village whose Sacro Monte della SS. Trinità above town belongs to the UNESCO nine Sacri Monti of Piemonte and Lombardia.