Monuments

The province of Varese has a large cultural and artistic heritage, which can be seen thoughout the area.

The oldest evidence of life can be found in the small Museum of Besano (Valceresio), which houses fossils of one of the biggest deposits in Europe, recently acknowledge by UNESCO as human heritage.

Man first arrived in this region in the Neolithic age, when lake-dwelling settlements were spread all over the banks of the minor lakes. Along the Ticino many findings of the “Golasecca civilisation” have been discovered and now visible in the Civic Museum of Sesto Calende.

Nevertheless there is also evidence from Roman times and medioeval civil and religious art, as for castles like Mantegazza Castle, Visconti S. Vito Castle, Medici di Marignano Castle or example in Castelseprio and in the many churches, cloisters, monasteries, abbeys, baptisteries and parishes, between them the Badia di Ganna, the Chiostro di Voltorre in Gavirate, the Santa Maria Assunta heritage in Cairate and the Monumental Romanic complex of Arsago Seprio. The medioeval village of Castiglione Olona shows the passage from late Gothic style to the art of the Renaissance.

During the 17th century people competed to build the holy route leading to Sacro Monte of Varese (UNESCO patrimony), while aristocratic families from Milan, such as the Borromeos, the Viscontis, the Medicis, the Cicognas and the Littas, spent their countryside holidays in magnificent villas enhanced by ornate gardens.

Varese became a feud of Francesco III d’Este who built a wonderful palace. Santa Caterina del Sasso Ballaro (Leggiuno), a beautiful heritage which dates back to the thirteenth century, was the destination of pilgrimages.

After the national unification, the province of Varese decided to invest in tourism particularly with civil Liberty Stile works: among them, the old cableway to Sacro Monte, recently restored, Campo dei Fiori - and Palace Grand Hotel and even industrial buildings, like Poretti Brewery in Induno Olona.