Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese and The castrum with the Torba Tower and the c

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese

   Above Varese, on the flank of the Campo dei Fiori, a cobbled path climbs two kilometres or so through woods and past fourteen chapels to a medieval sanctuary and the tiny village of Santa Maria del Monte. Each chapel contains a life-size scene of the mysteries of the Rosary, with painted terracotta figures and frescoed backgrounds, and the whole ensemble, built in the seventeenth century under the architect Giuseppe Bernascone, is one of the nine Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2003.

   Read the complete Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese is where the day begins. Next is Il Sabbione o settentrionale.

2. 2. Il Sabbione o settentrionale

   Lake Monate is small, round and remarkably clean, set in the gentle hills of the Varese province between Lake Maggiore and Lake Varese. It has no river flowing into it, being fed by springs, and its water is among the clearest of any lake in Lombardy, which makes it a favourite with swimmers on hot summer days. On its northern shore, near Cadrezzate, the site known as Il Sabbione preserves the remains of a prehistoric village built on piles at the water's edge, part of the UNESCO listing of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps. The Varese area is rich in such sites, and the finds from them, including pottery, tools and the remains of wooden canoes, are displayed in local museums.

   Read the complete Il Sabbione o settentrionale write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Il Sabbione o settentrionale comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is The castrum with the Torba Tower and the c.

3. 3. The castrum with the Torba Tower and the c

   The Lombards get a bad press in most history books, which tend to treat them as the barbarians who arrived in Italy in 568 and broke what was left of Roman order. Castelseprio tells a subtler story. On a wooded spur above the Olona valley, north-west of Milan, stand the ruins of a late Roman and Lombard castrum, a fortified town that controlled the road between the plain and the Alpine lakes, and just outside its walls is the little church of Santa Maria foris portas, whose frescoes are among the most mysterious and beautiful paintings of early medieval Europe. Down by the river, the stout stone Torba tower, later part of a Benedictine nunnery, completes the group. Together they form one of the sites in the UNESCO listing of the Lombards in Italy.

   Read the complete The castrum with the Torba Tower and the c write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 51 km into the recorded legs you reach The castrum with the Torba Tower and the c. Next is back through Il Sabbione o settentrionale.

4. 4. back through Il Sabbione o settentrionale

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Il Sabbione o settentrionale write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Il Sabbione o settentrionale, late in the day. Next is Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese.

5. 5. Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese. That is the ride.