The city is home to the
Sacro Monte di Varese ('the Sacred Mount of Varese'), a place of
pilgrimage and worship. It is one of the
Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy, included on the
UNESCO World Heritage list.
Religious architecture •
Basilica of San Vittore (16th-17th century) • Church of St. Martin (1774) •
Church of Sant'Antonio alla Motta (1606-1614) • Church of St. Joseph (1504) • Church of St. Charles Borromeo (1960-1961)
Civic buildings , now used as the town hall of Varese Varese is rich in castles, many of which once belonged to the Borromeo family. The historic centre of the city includes the Praetorian Palace and Villa Cagna, a residential complex that also hosts the Civic Music School of Varese. After the 19th century, it was enriched by villas and their surrounding gardens, many now open to visitors, including: •
Villa Recalcati in
Casbeno was built in the early 18th century, enlarged during 1756–77, and was once a luxury hotel. It now houses the offices of the Province of Varese and the Prefecture. • Villa Mylius, near the town centre, was once owned by the Jesuit order, and in 1773 the house and park were sold to the notable Francesco Torelli, who transformed a modest building into a large villa, then sold it in 1902 to the industrialist George Mylius. After his death, the property was divided among several heirs, who in 1946 jointly sold it to the
Varesino Achille Cattaneo, and he donated to the town of Varese in 2007. •
Villa Toeplitz, in the Sant'Ambrogio district, stands in a large public park. The complex is named after Giuseppe Toeplitz (1866–1938), a Polish-born banker who bought it in 1914. Already a modest country residence of the German family Hannesen, was enlarged by Toeplitz after World War II, when his wife Hedwig Mrozowska and his son Louis sold it to the brothers Mocchetti of Legnano. The complex with the elegant Italian park was passed to the Municipality of Varese in 1972. •
Ville Ponti was built between 1850 and 1870 by Milanese architect
Giuseppe Balzaretto (1801–1874) for Andrea Ponti. In 1976, it was converted into a convention centre. The main building, surrounded by a public park, is decorated internally by
Giuseppe Bertini (1825–1898). Part of the complex,
Villa Fabio Ponti is a
neoclassical-style villa housed in the 1959 headquarters for Garibaldi. •
Villa Menafoglio Litta Panza in locations Biumo Superiore, opposite the entrance of Ville Ponti, was commissioned in the mid-18th century by the Marquis Paolo Antonio Menafoglio, and is an example of a vacation home in Varese. The villa with the garden was partly transformed during the Napoleonic period (neoclassical hall) when the garden was converted into an English-style garden. Recognized since 1996 as well protected by the
FAI, the building currently hosts the contemporary art collection of the Panza family. • Villa Augusta, in the Giubiano neighbourhood, was built in the second half of the 19th century. Already owned by Testoni, passed to the Hospital of Circolo di Varese and then, on 30 September 1952, was ceded to the Roman Catholic order of the Sisters of Helpers of Holy Souls who pray for souls in Purgatory. Since 1968, the villa was purchased by the city and houses municipal offices. The park has been open to the public since 5 April 1970. •
Villa Baragiola, in Masnago, has a well-visited park. On the north side, in the shadow of Mount Campo dei Fiori, in 1895, the lawyer Andrea Baragiola opened one of the first Italian racecourses, which extended to the area now occupied by the stadium "Franco Ossola" and its ample parking. The villa was renovated in the early thirties, and in the next decade, refurbished as a religious seminary. Passed to the Municipality of Varese in 2001, today it is a part of its offices, while the park is open to the public. •
Masnago Castle. In the city centre, there is the
Palazzo Estense with its gardens (built in the 17th century) and Villa Mirabello. Villa Mirabello, the seat of
Museo Civico Archeologico (Civic Archaeological Museum), was built in the late 600s on top of the hill which carries its name. This site is surrounded by a park which is set close to the park of Palazzo Estense. File:Vialla Panza2 BMK.jpg File:Villa Toeplitz.JPG File:VillaAndreaPontiVarese.jpg
Natural areas In addition to numerous public parks of the city, often appurtenances of historic villas, there is the
Park Luigi Zanzi in Schiranna, established in the sixties through a partial filling of the coast of
Lake Varese. It is a large botanical garden located on the banks of Lake Varese, rich in numerous species of trees and birdlife that is partially sheltered in the reeds along the banks. Bathing beach in the summer, the park also offers the possibility of peaceful walks and cycling on the bike path. Close to the city of Varese is the
Campo dei Fiori Regional Park, a natural reserve of over five thousand acres consisting of the massive mountain
Campo dei Fiori and Mount Martica, separate from that valley Rasa which is the junction of Valcuvia and Olona valley. Once the peak of the Campo dei Fiori was characterized by extensive grassland, it became the historical destination of tourism of Varese and of Milan. Today is the spectacular blooms - which gave the name to the area - to be one of its main attractions. It is a very diverse place showing aspects of extreme interest, related both to the natural environment, both in history and culture, referring to a past full of events and traditions. There are small farming villages, monuments of rare beauty, cave systems and articulated a well-maintained network of trails: some passable, as well as on foot, on horseback and on bicycle. Inside the park are established six nature reserves enclosing environments most important and characteristic. == Economy ==