Sacro Monte di Orta

Origins and history

A true architectural and artistic jewel, the Sacro Monte dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi stands on the hill that rises in the center of the Orta peninsula. An extraordinary landscape context encloses the series of 20 chapels that tell the life of the Saint. Nature and culture merge to narrate his story of spirituality in a place that has been a destination for devotional pilgrimages for centuries.

The origins of the site date back to 1583 when the Ortese community wanted to build a devotional path modeled on the older Sacro Monte of Varallo. In the following years the project came to fruition thanks to the contribution of the abbot Amico Canobio and the Capuchin architect Cleto da Castelletto.

The greatest contribution to the constitutive structure of the Sacro Monte came between 1593 and 1615 from Carlo Bescapé, Bishop of Novara. He established the sequence of scenes in the different chapels, chose the architectural structure and the devotional path to follow.

Each chapel represents an event related to the life of Saint Francis. The scenes are very realistic. The atmospheres retain intimate and natural characteristics typical of Lombard art of the early 17th century. Among the artists who worked there, the Fiammenghini, Morazzone, Cristoforo Prestinari, Dionigi Bussola, and the Nuvolone brothers stand out.

Nietzsche and his love story

Many historical figures have visited this religious site. Among them, the most famous is Nietzsche. The philosopher is said to be linked to the Sacred Mount due to an episode of unrequited love. It is said that he, having come to visit Orta, climbed along the devotional path in the company of Lou Andreas Salomè, a young and promising Russian girl with whom he was deeply infatuated. Nietzsche and the girl are said to have stayed for a long time among the vegetation and chapels of the Sacred Mount, so much so that the intellectual hoped for the fulfillment of his dream of love for Salome. However, his expectations were disappointed: once he left Italy, it was clear that the young woman did not reciprocate the philosopher’s feelings.

This episode is known as “The Idyll of Orta” and has been recounted by various biographers and recently by the writer Laura Pariani in the novel La Foto di Orta.

UNESCO Heritage

The Orta San Giulio is part of a system of nine Sacred Mounts located between Piedmont and Lombardy. Since 2003, UNESCO has protected this complex of devotional sites as a property of global importance. The set of these complexes is managed by the Management Body of the Sacred Mounts and is also known as “The Great Mountain Theater”, a true open-air artistic setting among mountains, hills and valleys.

The core of the Sacred Mountains developed starting from the 16th century with the aim of spreading knowledge of the Catholic doctrine against the birth of Protestant confessions beyond the Alps. The great mastery of the artists who worked there led to the creation of sites of great architectural value where natural and artificial elements merge. Today they represent one of the most suggestive attractions of the territory not only for Christians, but for all tourists and passionate visitors.