We start the day with a visit to Varese, the capital of the Varese province, in the Lombardy region. Varese has 82.000 inhabitants.
Because of its picturesque setting the city is called "città-giardino"
The most important monuments are the San Vittore basilica and the San Giovanni baptisterium, both from the 17th century.
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| PALAZZO E GIARDINI ESTENSI |
We then drive to Somma Lombardo. Our first stop is at the Castello San Visconti di San Vito, built in the 13th century, home of the Visconti.
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| Piazzale del Monte San Carlo |
Next we visit Arona
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| Hier bevindt zich ook het befaamde Collegio de Filippi |
The Colossus of St. Charles,
better known as the statue of San Carlone, is placed in on the hills behind the
town, overlooking the lake.
It’s dedicated to Carlo
Borromeo, the Saint born in Arona in 1538.
The statue, originally foreseen in
marble, was made of iron trellis covered in plates of copper. Placed on a stone
base of which you can enter by a staircase 12 m high, the giant reaches a
height of nearly 24 yards that led him to be the second highest statue in the
world after the Statue of Liberty in New York.
Inside it, to enable visitors
to have access, it was created a guided path from the base of the statue, up at
its top made with a little iron stairs and fixed courses.
From here, looking
out from the opening corresponding to the eyes of the statue, you can admire
the landscape surrounding: the whole area of Lake Maggiore, the high Vergante
and the territories bordering Piedmont and Lombardy.
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| Piazza del Popolo |
San Graziano en Santa Maria di Loreto.
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| View on the Rocca di Angera at the other side of the Maggiore lake. |
On our way back home we stop at
La Chiesa di S. Rocco
in Somma Lombardo, which unfortunately is closed.
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| San Rocco (left) |
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