Parish Church of Orta San Giulio.

Parish Church
At the top of the Motta (hill in Lombardian dialiect), is the Church of the Assumption, built in  1485 and rebuilt in the second half of the 18th century. The original late Romanic church was enhanced with paintings in the 17th and 18th centuries by Rossetti,  Cantalupi and Orgiazzi. In the
Gemelli chapels a canvas by Procaccini can be admired, depicting Saint Charles at the Plague Procession in Milan. This is one of the finest examples of early Lombardian 17th century painting.   
The facade is by Carlo Nigra and was preceded by a 17th century portico on binate columns

Parish priest: 0322 90147

Photos and texts from the site www.provincia.novara.it

Sacro Monte,
was built from 1590 onward above Orta on the site the ancient Chapel of San Nicolao, built in the Middle Ages and where the Madonna of the Pietà was admired. Sacro Monte  of Orta, built thanks to  Amico Canobio, with the intention of telling the story of the life of Saint Francis, is on one of the hills (approx.  400 m. above sea level) of the peninsula which is the centre of the area of Orta. It is a quiet and tranquil place, chosen for its position which is so conducive to meditation and prayer.    An important contribution to its construction was made by Carlo Bascapè, bishop of Novara and feudal prince of the riviera  of Orta; it was  also his duty to define and designate the project from a religious viewpoint. It was undeniably his intention to create a pictorial narration of the life of St Francis. The visit to the chapels allows us to observe the various architectural and artistic models which followed each other over the period of time it took for its completion and which were often dicated by changes in tastes.   The first chapels in fact were simple and decorated with frescoes of groups of terracotta statues describing the life of the saint. In the 17th century, the more emphatic Baroque style left visible traces in the figures of chapels no. 17, 19 and 20; rococo influence is visible in the pastel colours  of some of the chapels which were introduced by the  painter Stefano Maria Legnani, while the Cappella Nuova is a fine expression of the neo classic model. Most of the artists who worked during the building stages of the Sacro Monte were from Milan and were under the surveillance of Bascapè : painters such as  Morazzone, Prestinari, Giovanni d'Enrico, Giovanni Battista and Giovanni Mauro della Rovere followed each other in the early stages of the work..

Photos and texts from the site www.provincia.novara.it
and http://www.sacromonteorta.it/

Bocciola Sanctuary Ameno.
http://www.santuari.it/bocciola/
SANTUARY AT  BOCCIOLA Via Bardelli,11 Tel.

Sanctuary at Bocciola
Situated in a position with beautiful views over the road connecting
Vacciago ad Ameno, the Sanctuary rises on the remains of a little church which in the 16th century was built in memory of an apparition of the Virgin Mary. 
The current building which was initiated in 1734  and finished in 1834-43 is a typically neo classic building. The plan is typically quadrilobal with a chancel and large altar in white marble, on which is depicted the figure of the Virgin Mary. The walls and vaulted ceilings of the sanctuary are beautifully decorated in frescoes by Agostino Comerio (19th century). Referring to the Old Testament, to the Virgin Mary and to the birth of Christ, the frescoes have a prevalently oval shape. Something curious to note: a number of “miracles” have been recorded in the Sanctuary records over the centuries and attributed to the Madonna of Bocciola.