Holy Mount of Orta

The Sacro Monte di Orta is part of the group of nine Sacri Monti alpini in Piemonte and Lombardia and is a UNESCO world heritage site. Unlike the other Sacred Mountains, that of Orta is the only entirely dedicated to a saint, the 20 chapels that compose it in fact depict episodes from the life and miracles of Saint Francis of Assisi. It was built in three distinct periods between 1590 and 1788. The first, which began in 1590 at the behest of the local community and which continued until around 1630; it is marked as style, from mannerism. The second period, which lasted until the end of the seventeenth century, the dominant style was the baroque style, which is then developed during the third period until the end of the eighteenth century, in forms more free blending with other influences. The complex consists of 20 chapels, the ancient Hospice of San Francesco, a monumental door and a fountain. Many illustrious people visited the Sacro Monte di Orta. No commemorative plaque but recalls that in the early days of May 1882 the Monte was the destination of a trip is intended to leave some sign in the history of European culture. The protagonists of the ascent of the mountain were Lou Andreas Salome, his mother Louise, Friedrich Nietzsche, and a common friend Paul Rée. Between the tormented German philosopher and the brilliant Russian girl there was, in the enchantment of the place, an uncertain moment of tenderness that some biographers have then called the idyll of Orta. Is the same Salome to recall the incident: "Together we did stage ... in Orta ... where the nearby Monte Sacro seemed to us so fascinated by cause us to lose the sense of time: my mother is offended because Nietzsche and I we held too long on Monte Sacro"