The Sacro Monte di Orta (literally: "Sacred Mountain of Orta") is a Roman Catholic devotional complex in the

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

Orta San Giulio Orta San Giulio is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Novara in the Italian region of Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northwest of Novara. The town itself is built on a promontory which juts out from t ...

(

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

) on the summit of a hill known as San Nicolao, which faces the western shore of

Lake Orta Lake Orta (Italian: ''Lago d’Orta'') is a lake in northern Italy, west of Lake Maggiore. It has been so named since the 16th century, but was previously called Lago di San Giulio, after Saint Julius (4th century), the patron saint of the regi ...

. It is one of the

Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy The (plural of , Italian for "Sacred Mountain") of Piedmont and Lombardy are a series of nine calvaries or groups of chapels and other architectural features created in northern Italy during the late sixteenth century and the seventeenth centur ...

, included in

UNESCO World Heritage A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

list. It is a stop-over on the

CoEur devotional path CoEur is a Christian devotional and hiking route in Italy and Switzerland. Its Italian subtitle, ''Nel cuore dei cammini d'Europa'', translates as "In the heart of Europe's paths". History of the route The path CoEUR was created in the late 1990 ...

. Many of the artworks are of a high quality, some of the most highly thought of

painters Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and

sculptors Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

of the period having been commissioned to produce them. The vegetation of the Sacred Mountain runs down to the shores of

and was designed in line with ornamental criteria to match the architecture.

History

Construction of the complex, dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi, began in 1583. The project by the

Capuchin friar The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. O.F.M. Cap.) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of Three " First Orders" that reformed from the Franciscan Friars Minor Observant (OFM Obs., now OFM ...

Cleto da Castelletto Ticino involved 36

chapels A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common type ...

, of which only 20 were built. Until 1630 they were mostly in the

Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ita ...

style, but from the mid-17th century, Baroque and other influences predominated. Construction ended in 1788.

References

External links

Sacro Monte di Orta

Official web site for European Sacred Mounts
All information relative to Sacri Monti in Piedmont and Lombardy is available in Italian and English.
More than 130 images across the chapels
https://punctumbooks.com/titles/sacred-views-of-saint-francis-the-sacro-monte-di-orta/
{{Coord, 45, 47, 52, N, 8, 24, 40, E, display=title, region:IT-NO_type:landmark_source:dewiki Buildings and structures in Orta San Giulio World Heritage Sites in Italy Orta Tourist attractions in Piedmont