Surroundings

Perched on the cliff overlooking the lake, the Sanctuary is a complex of buildings recently restored and visited.

The archipelago of the Borromean Islands is located in the western part of Lake Maggiore, in the arm of the lake called the Borromeo gulf which sees Stresa and Pallanza facing and opposing each other.

Probably built on the site of an ancient Roman fortification, the medieval Rocca di Angera was an archiepiscopal possession from the 11th century.

From Laveno Mombello you can climb gently with a comfortable two-seater gondola lift to almost the top of Mount Sasso del Ferro (1100 m.) From where you can admire a grandiose and enchanting panorama of Lake Maggiore, the Alps, the Prealps, the Lombard lakes and the Po plain.

Testimony of a tormented history of this territory, object of contention between the families of the Sforza and the Visconti, are the so-called Malpaga Castles, built between the XII and XIV century.

The Sacro Monte di Varese is part of the group of nine pre-Alpine Sacred Mountains of Piedmont and Lombardy included in 2003 by UNESCO on the World Heritage List.