Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy and Sacro Monte di San Francesco d’Orta San Gi
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
269 km
Riding-time estimate
6 h 05
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Ossuccio it runs 269 km to Ossuccio; allow about 6 h 05 of riding. It goes by way of Monte San Giorgio, Isolino Virginia-Camilla-Isola di San Biag, Sacro Monte di San Francesco d’Orta San Gi and back through Isolino Virginia-Camilla-Isola di San Biag. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,100 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Italy into Switzerland - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Scenic road chapters
Grand Tour of Switzerland
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 56 km this is Grand Tour of Switzerland, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
Length
56 km
Named road
Grand Tour of Switzerland
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy
On the western shore of Lake Como, above the village of Ossuccio and facing the little Isola Comacina, a cobbled path climbs the hillside through olive groves and woods, past fourteen small chapels, to a sanctuary at the top. This is the Sacro Monte of Ossuccio, one of nine sacred mountains in Piedmont and Lombardy listed together by UNESCO. Built in the seventeenth century, the chapels illustrate the Mysteries of the Rosary with life-size terracotta and plaster figures arranged in dramatic scenes, each one a small piece of theatre.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy is where the day begins. Next is Monte San Giorgio.
2. Monte San Giorgio
Monte San Giorgio is a wooded, pyramid-shaped mountain on the shores of Lake Lugano, straddling the border between Switzerland and Italy. To the eye, it is a pleasant green hill with villages on its slopes. To palaeontologists, it is one of the most important fossil sites in the world. About two hundred and forty million years ago, during the Middle Triassic, this area was a tropical lagoon, and its sediments preserved an extraordinary range of marine reptiles, fish, invertebrates and plants. The mountain was added to the UNESCO list in 2003 on the Swiss side, and in 2010 on the Italian side.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monte San Giorgio comes up about 56 km into the recorded legs. Next is Isolino Virginia-Camilla-Isola di San Biag.
3. Isolino Virginia-Camilla-Isola di San Biag
Lago di Varese is the quiet one. The big lakes, Maggiore and Lugano, grab the postcards and the coach tours, while this shallow, reedy sheet of water just west of Varese gets on with being pretty in a modest way. Off its western shore, a few hundred metres out from Biandronno, floats a tiny wooded island called Isolino Virginia, and that speck of land is one of the most important prehistoric sites in the Alpine world.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 89 km into the recorded legs you reach Isolino Virginia-Camilla-Isola di San Biag. Next is Sacro Monte di San Francesco d’Orta San Gi.
4. Sacro Monte di San Francesco d’Orta San Gi
Lake Orta is the quiet sister of Lake Maggiore, smaller, calmer and more mysterious, and on a wooded hill above its prettiest town stands a holy mountain dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi. The Sacro Monte di Orta is a path through a park of beech and chestnut trees, linking twenty chapels built from the end of the sixteenth century onward, each containing life-size terracotta statues and frescoes depicting scenes from the life of the saint. It is one of the nine holy mountains of Piedmont and Lombardy listed together by UNESCO in 2003, created during the Counter-Reformation as places of pilgrimage and devotion.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy closes the day.
Leg by leg
Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy to Monte San Giorgio
Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy → Monte San Giorgio is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monte San Giorgio to Isolino Virginia-Camilla-Isola di San Biag
Monte San Giorgio → Isolino Virginia-Camilla-Isola di San Biag is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Isolino Virginia-Camilla-Isola di San Biag to Sacro Monte di San Francesco d’Orta San Gi
Isolino Virginia-Camilla-Isola di San Biag → Sacro Monte di San Francesco d’Orta San Gi is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sacro Monte di San Francesco d’Orta San Gi to back through Isolino Virginia-Camilla-Isola di San Biag
Sacro Monte di San Francesco d’Orta San Gi → back through Isolino Virginia-Camilla-Isola di San Biag is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Isolino Virginia-Camilla-Isola di San Biag to back through Monte San Giorgio
back through Isolino Virginia-Camilla-Isola di San Biag → back through Monte San Giorgio is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Monte San Giorgio to Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy
back through Monte San Giorgio → Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.