246 Piedmont and Savoy-Preliminary Information. and it is best to estimate distance by time. There can be no mistake where from point to point is stated as so many hours distant; and what has been accomplished in a day or six hours by one traveller, may be safely recommended as the time required for another, and as the distance reckoned herein for time, rather exceed what is required by a very active walker, the estimate will not deceive. § 10. Maps.-There are no maps of the Alps upon which implicit confidence can be placed, at least of the country south of Mont Blanc. Raymond's Sheet Map is full of errors, and those published by the Sardinian Government are deplorably inaccurate. Paul Chaix's Map of Savoy is generally correct, for Savoy itself; but like that of Switzerland by Keller, of which the edition of 1838 is the best, beyond the boundaries of Savoy and Switzerland neither is to be implicitly trusted. Among the best maps of Piedmont is Stucci's of the states on terra firma of the king of Sardinia, Within a few years, Maggi of Turin has pubiished the provinces of the kingdom of Sardinia separately, and they will be found useful though not correct. General Bourcet's Map of the French Alps from Nice to Pont Beauvoisin, is one of the most accurate yet published. A most faithful reduction of this map to two small sheets, may be had. A "Dizionario Geografico, Storico," &c., of the states of the King of Sardinia, is now in the course of publication by Maspero of Turin. A map in six parts is in preparation to accompany the work on its completion, and if its details and its accuracy be commensurate with the text, it will be a valuable work for the traveller in the Alps of Piedmont. The Sardinian Government has for some time been engaged in a careful survey of its territories, and it is to be hoped that ere long it may give an accurate map of its dominions to the world. Pedestrian Tours of Six Weeks or Two Months chiefly in the Alps of Savoy and Piedmont. ** Carriage Road. *Char Road. † Mule Road. S Footpath. All names following the marks indicated are the same as the last. ** Geneva to Salenches, or St. Martin. (115.) * Chamouny. Tête Noire to Trient. (116.) § Breven. § Montanvert, le Jardin. Chamouny to Cormayeur, by the ** Cormayeur to Aosta. (107.) † Hospice of the Great St. Ber- * Martigny. (see Switzerland, Route 59.) Pass of the Mont Cervin. (106.) Col de Jon. (104.) 248 Route 101.- Varallo The Sacro Monte. on the road, especially the approach | which descend to the Val Sesia, form to the lake of Orta, where this beau- a tableau that few sketchers fail to tiful lake is seen backed by Monte possess. Rosa, is scarcely rivalled by any lake and mountain scene, from one end of the Alps to the other. At Buccione boats may be had to take carriages to Omegna at the lower end of the lake, distant 9 miles, and thence to Gravedona in the route of the Simplon, beyond the Lago Maggiore. From Borgomanero, there is an excellent road to the little town of Romagnano on the Sesia, where the inn is good. From Romagnano the road up the course of the Sesia is singularly beautiful; the mountains as they are approached offering richly wooded slopes, and the masses are relieved by castles, churches, and oratories. The vegetation is most luxuriant; several villages are passed. The principal place before arriving at Varallo is Borgo Sesia; here the valley becomes narrower, and the road offers some striking scenes, though the range of view is more limited in the narrow parts of the Val Sesia. It opens again in the neighbourhood of The Varallo, where the situation of this town, and the sanctuary on its celebrated Sacro Monte-Lu Nuova Gerusalemme nel Sacro Monte di Varallo, as the guide-book calls this extraordinary place of pilgrimage - form singular and interesting scenes. Albergo d'Italia is the best inn, but dear; the Gran Falcone has fallen off. There is need of many inns to provide for the bodily wants of the spiritual visitors to the Sacro Monte, who, especially on the Festas of the Church, crowd here as devotees. Varallo, from every point of view, is highly picturesque, but it is so in a striking degree when seen from the bridge across the Sesia, which is very lofty and narrow, having three arches. From the dry bed of the river below the bridge, the Sacro Monte seen through its arches, the old houses which overhang the torrent, and the richly wooded slopes of the mountains The Sacro Monte is, however, the great object of attraction and pilgrimage. It rises immediately above the town, and is accessible by a paved path, which winds up the side of the hill, and offers from every turn the most picturesque and beautiful scenes. Just before the summit is attained, the visitor passes a chapel and crucifix, the ex voto of a pious German serjeant-major, as duly announced by an inscription, which informs the visitor that, in honour of God and the Virgin Mary, John Pschel raised this chapel. A troop of vagabonds, always ready to serve the traveller, offer themselves as guides; and to facilitate the visit to this extraordinary place, one is necessary, to point out all the chapels or oratories in the order of their numbers, an affair of research by no means easy; for though the spot of ground which they occupy is small, it seems, from its varied surface, and its labyrinth-like arrangement, to be very extensive. This remarkable place has fifty chapels, or oratories upon it, besides the great church, fountains, &c. These oratories contain groups of figures modelled in terra-cotta, painted and clothed, placed and composed on the floors. They chiefly represent some of the principal events in the history of Christ, in the order of their Occurrence. These places are never entered; they are merely frames or cases for the subjects grouped within them, which, seen from 2 or 3 peepholes in front, like those in rareeshows, excite the devotion of the faithful, and the disgust, except in a few instances where they exhibit skill as works of art, of the merely curious. Externally, these oratories are rich in the architectural display of façades, porticos, domes, &c.: the figures within are the size of life. The subjects are in the order of the numbers on the chapels. 11. The Murder of the Innocents. 12. The Baptism in the Jordan. 13. The Temptation. 14. Christ and the Woman of Samaria. 15. Christ Curing the Paralytic. 16. Christ Raising the Widow's Son. 17. The Transfiguration. 18. The Raising of Lazarus. 19. The Entrance into Jerusalem. 20. The Last Supper. 21. Christ in the Garden. 22. Christ finds his Disciples Sleeping. 23. Christ Betrayed by Judas. 24. Christ in the House of Anna. 25. Christ in the Hands of Caiaphas. 26. The Repentance of St. Peter. 27. Christ in the House of Pilate. 28. Christ in the House of Herod. 29. Christ Reconducted to Pilate. 30. The Flagellation. 31. Christ Crowned with Thorns. 32. Christ again Conducted to Pilate. 33. Christ Shown to the People. 34. Pilate Washing his Hands. 35. Christ Sentenced to Death. 36. Christ Bearing the Cross. 37. Christ Nailed to the Cross. 38. The Crucifixion. 39. Christ taken down from the Cross. 40. The Pieta- the Women around the Body of Christ. 41. The Body wrapped in Linen. 42. San Francesco. 43. Christ Lying in the Sepulchre. 44. Saint Anna. 45. An Angel announcing to the Virgin Mary her Transition to Heaven. 249 In the first of these, representing the Fall of Man, Adam and Eve are seen amidst animals of all sorts and sizes, from the elephant to the rabbit. In the second, the series which refer to Christ, commences with the Annunciation. One of the large compositions, representing the Murder of the Innocents, No. 11., contains above 60 figures, the size of life, besides the painted groups on the walls; so arranged as to assist the composition. All the walls are thus painted, and many of the pictures are masterly productions, not unworthy of the reputation of Pelegrini Tibaldi, whose name is found in the list of those who were employed upon the works of the Sacro Monte di Varallo; together with that of Gaudenzio Ferrari, a pupil and companion of Raphael, Fiammingho, the famous sculptor of children, and many other artists of eminence, as painters, sculptors, and architects. The valleys of the Novarais, of which Val Sesia is the principal, are remarkable for the number of painters they have produced, and the names of many are preserved here as having proudly contributed to the embellishment of this singular sanctuary in their own country. enormous The subject of the Transfiguration is represented upon an scale; the group in the foreground contains the demoniac boy; on the mountain, an immense modelled mass, are the three disciples; above them Christ, with Moses and Elias; over these, painted on the walls and ceiling of the dome, are the host of heaven; and above all, the Almighty. This vast composition occupies the highest and largest of these structures; and the height of the whole composition, modelled and painted, is nearly 100 feet. Much effect is produced by the appropriate situation of some of the subjects. The access to the place where Christ is laid in the sepulchre is by a vault, where little light is ad 46. The Sepulchre of the Virgin mitted; and as it is difficult on en Mary. tering from the open day to distin guish at first any object, the effect is very imposing. Many of the figures are clothed in real drapery, and some have real hair, which appears very grotesque, yet full of character and expression; many of the heads are finely modelled. In the subject of the Visitation the head of a female is strikingly fine. The executioners conducting to Calvary, or otherwise employed in inflicting suffering on Christ, are, to increase the disgust for their characters, modelled with goîtres appended to their throats -a proof that these are not considered beauties here, in spite of the traveller's tale. The models are painted, but no offence to taste in their class of art arises from this, because, as the subjects can only be seen through peep-holes in front of the prie-dieus of the oratories, and not in passing from one of these to another, as much illusion is produced in seeing them as in observing a picture. Among the objects of religious reverence here is a flight of steps, called the Scala Santa, recommended to the especial devotion of the faithful, who are informed by an inscription on a tablet at the foot of these stairs, that they have been built in exact imitation of the Scala Santa, at St. John Lateran, in Rome. Some of the numerous devotees and pilgrims may always be seen crawling to heaven up these stairs, encouraged by a concession of plenary indulgence granted by Pope Clement XII. to all who would climb these eight and twenty steps on their hands and knees, say an Ave, a Puter, and a Gloria on each step, and kiss each step devoutly ! This extraordinary place originated in the piety of the blessed (i. e. half saint) Bernardino Caimo, a noble Milanese, who obtained in ́ 1486, from pope Innocent VIII., a faculty to found this sanctuary. Only 3 or 4 chapels were built in the time of the founder, but so great did its reputation for sanctity soon become, that princes and rich devotees contributed to its accomplishment, to the extent now observed. St. Carlo Boromeo twice visited it, in 1578 and 1584, and the pallet bedstead upon which this patron saint of Milan died, is preserved here as a holy relic for the adoration of the faithful. The church is a handsome structure, and the cloisters, where the priests reside, are in a beautiful situation, commanding views of Varallo and the Val Sesia below the town. At the entrance to the immediate site of the Oratories, booths or shops are established for the sale of corone, i. e. beads, crucifixes, madonnas, &c., which have acquired sanctity, and the power, in some cases, of working miracles, by having touched the blessed bed of the holy St. Carlo, or other miracle-working relics possessed by the fraternity of the Nuova Gerusalemme. The body is, however, provided for as well as the soul; and there are two booths within the sacred precincts for the sale of liquors, where the devotees may be generally seen preparing themselves for, or refreshing themselves after, the plenary indulgence at the Scala Santa, by plenary indulgence in aqua vita. It is extraordinary that a place so remarkable, in a country so beautiful, should be so little known to English explorers of the picturesque : by them the Val Sesia and its lateral valleys of the Mastellone, and the Sermentathe former leading by Fobello, the latter by Carcoforo, to Banio in the Val Anzasca — are rarely visited. No valleys in the Alps surpass these for the grandeur and beauty of the scenes which they present; none are more easy of access to Alpine tourists; a finer race of inhabitants is nowhere to be found, except perhaps in the neighbouring valley of Anzasca. The cantons of Switzerland do not offer greater varieties of costume, than are to be found in the different transversal valleys of the Sesia. And Varallo is far enough in the heart of the country |