Tom`s travels: Vignale Monferrato, Sacro Monte di Crea, & Moncalvo (26/12/2024)

On a sunny day, we decided to visit a few towns in the Monferrato area of Piemonte. Leaving Alessandria, we reached the town of Vignale Monferrato, picturesquely located on a hilltop in the hilly area of Monferrato. Once there, after having parked the car, we explore the old town on foot. We walked through the central Piazza del Popolo, surrounded by nice buildings and with a garden at its southern side facing out with a nice view. Then, slightly up from there, we reached the main church, San Bartolomeo, built between the 18th and 19th centuries with an imposing neoclassical pronaos. It was closed, so we walked around it and reached a panoramic terrace from where we had an amazing view of the surrounding landscape and the snow-covered mountains to the west and north, including the easily recognizable figures of the Monte Rosa and Monviso. Moving on, we walked and reached another terrace at the southern end of town, from where we enjoyed another amazing view. Descending down some stairs, we passed in front of the Beata Vergine Addolorata church, built in the Gothic style in the 15th century. It was also closed, so we continued walking some other minor streets until we circled back to the car. Driving on through the hilly landscape, we then reached the town of Serralunga di Crea, and after driving up a steep hill, we reached the Sacro Monte di Crea, one of the nine Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy, included in the UNESCO World Heritage list. The complex consists of a sanctuary with a church located on the eastern end of the hilltop, and on the rest of the hill, at an even higher altitude, are a series of chapels dedicated to the Mysteries of the Rosary set throughout a nice protected park. The current sanctuary was built starting in 1589 to encourage prayer and meditation and to renew the Marian devotion linked to the shrine, a pilgrimage destination of considerable importance since the 11th century. We entered the main church and admired its nice baroque structure, including the large facade. Once inside, particularly noteworthy were the 15th-century frescoes inside the chapel of Santa Margherita, with incredible Renaissance living figures. We also saw the room with many ex-votos, thanking the Virgin Mary for many near-death experiences the faithful experienced, some as old as from the 19th century, while others were more modern. After visiting the church, it was time to head around the park and visit the rosary chapels. We didn't follow them in order, and all 18 chapels; however, we still saw the majority of them making a whole loop around the hilltop. We started out with the 5th chapel, right across the square from the church, featuring the nativity of Mary. The incredible thing about these chapels is the lifelike sculptures made in wood and terracotta and then colorfully painted, and with their dramatism, present stories related to the life, passion, death, and resurrection of Christ. So moving on, we then saw chapels 6, 7, 8, and 9, all relating still to Mary's life, the presentation of the Virgin, the marriage of the Virgin, the Annunciation, and the Visitation. Next up, we visited more chapels, all related to Jesus' life: numbers 10 through 20, with the Nativity, the Presentation, Christ among the Doctors, Agony in the Garden, the Flagellation, Crowning with Thorns, Way to Calvary, Wedding at Cana, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and the Ascension. Finally, the last three chapels, 21, 22, and 23 descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, also known as Pentecost, Assumption of Mary, and the Coronation of Mary in heaven, known as the Paradise Chapel. This latter one was probably the most amazing with its statues modeled on a spiralling direction upwards towards the top of the chapel. Right outside of it, as it was on the highest part, we also enjoyed a beautiful view of the complex and of the mountains all around in the distance. Once we were done visiting, we headed back down to the main square where the sanctuary church is located and decided to have lunch at the nearby restaurant, Ristorante Crea, where I had a tasty dish of gnocchi with local Castelmagno cheese. After lunch, we decided to stop at one last place, the town of Moncalvo, a short drive from there. After parking the car, we then continued on foot and visited the nice old town. As we walked through, we stopped to visit the 17th-century church of Sant'Antonio with some nice paintings inside dating to the 17th and 18th centuries. Outside the church, we continued our walk, passing by the 13th-century Gothic house, Casa Lanfrancone, and then reached the higher part of town where the Piazza Garibaldi is located. Here was the city theater built in 1878 on the site of the former 17th-century guardhouse, as well as part of what was once the medieval castle residence of the Marquis of Monferrato. Only the perimeter walls and towers remain, on top of one of which we then had a beautiful view of the town and mountains. We then walked around the rest of the town and visited the Santuario di Santa Teresa di Calcutta, built in the 18th century on a pre-existing 15th-century church. We completed the visit to the town by reaching the eastern end, where the church of St Francis was located, but found it closed. That meant then driving back to Alessandria for a nice dinner.