The Sacred Mountain of Ghiffa is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

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 ...

'' of Ghiffa,

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

, northern Italy, overlooking the

Lake Maggiore Lake Maggiore (, ; it, Lago Maggiore ; lmo, label=Western Lombard, Lagh Maggior; pms, Lagh Magior; literally 'Greater Lake') or Verbano (; la, Lacus Verbanus) is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest l ...

. It is one of the nine Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy, 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 ...

Description

The dedication to the mystery of the

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...

was influenced by a pre-existing small oratory on Mount Cariago. The panoramic view over the

side of

displays a high level of compositional architecture and landscape research. The monumental complex is not homogeneous but remains incomplete and the authors and founders are anonymous. The

Chapel 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 ty ...

of the Blessed Virgin Mary Crowned was the first to be constructed in 1647. The portico of

Via Crucis The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Way of Sorrows or the Via Crucis, refers to a series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of his crucifixion and accompanying prayers. The stations grew out of imitati ...

, erected in the 17th century, underlines the shift from the themes of the

Counter Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...

to that of the

Passion of Christ In Christianity, the Passion (from the Latin verb ''patior, passus sum''; "to suffer, bear, endure", from which also "patience, patient", etc.) is the short final period in the life of Jesus Christ. Depending on one's views, the "Passion" m ...

External links

Sacro Monte di GhiffaOfficial web site for European Sacred Mounts

{{Coord, 45, 57, 49, N, 8, 36, 54, E, display=title, region:IT-VB_type:landmark_source:dewiki Buildings and structures in Piedmont World Heritage Sites in Italy Ghiffa Tourist attractions in Piedmont