フォレスター周辺のアトラクション＆必見スポット - トップ20

small chapel with a cross at the top

The German-language television series "Treasures of the World - Heritage of Humanity" – which I highly recommend – is dedicated to short film segments on UNESCO World Heritage sites from all continents and eras. This includes the "Sacri Monti" in northern Italy (there are eight of these "Sacred Mountains" in Piedmont, and a ninth in Lombardy), which are presented to culture-loving viewers in a 15-minute segment. This can be accessed in the ARD Media Library at the following link =>> https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/schaetze-der-welt/heilige-berge-in-piemont-italien-folge-396/3sat/Y3JpZDovL3N3ci5kZS84ODgxMzc2

The sacred mountain presents itself as a fascinating garden-park and a majestic rural Via Crucis, which winds along the slope of a hill. At the same time, it resembles a fortified city, with mighty walls, a monumental entrance gate and two squares that evoke ancient Jerusalem. However, people do not live here, but paintings and statues. On this rocky spur above Varallo, at the end of the 15th century, the Franciscan friar Bernardino Caimi designed a small holy land: a series of rural buildings that reproduce the most significant places in the life of Christ, animated by sculpted and painted scenes, created starting in 1486.

I don't count the times... everything is easy, pay attention from the refuge to the summit, a few meters here and there of steep rock, no stumbling or getting distracted, very dangerous. Done well, however, it is for everyone. I have done the return trip several times along the southern ridge, right in front of the refuge, rare signs for almost 400 meters of altitude difference, stay on the ridge on the back of the ridge until you exit at 1250 meters of altitude on the road that ends on the right at Alpe Passarina and on the left goes down to Selle di Parone and further on to Casavei. Instead of going down the road, I have taken the path several times (on the hairpin bend where it comes out) that, here too, staying on the back of the ridge, turning left when it ends, and paying attention to the few signs on the plants, goes down to the ancient Arcacce Alps, then Pometto (ruins), Uccello (ruins), Pra, where the dirt road begins and some renovated farmhouses, then Parone etc.

Excellent panoramic point and for a stop

It is a medieval tower that dates back to the 11th century and was part of a fortified system built between the 12th and 13th centuries. The church of S. Giovanni alle Castelle was part of this structure, destroyed in 1950, today replaced by the chapel of the Madonna della Neve, built by the Alpine Section of Gattinara.

A beautiful peak reachable from Varallo which allows you to explore the lower Valsesia.

From the peaks the panorama is exceptional: the view extends over the entire Valsesia and the eastern side of Monte Rosa, over Alphubel, Stralhorn, and even further away over Leone, Adamello, Lake Orta, Lake Maggiore and Lake of Varese.