- The sites of Lombardy        - The Chapels of Lombardy

Unusual for Italy, Lombardy is a landlocked region. Its northernmost point embraces the magnificent sub-Alpine vistas of Lake Maggiore and Lake Como, on the Swiss border, but most of Lombardy's 9,000 square miles are taken up by the vast Po River Valley, a broad, flat expanse of farmlands punctuated by windbreaks of poplar trees - Lombardy's equivalent to Tuscany's cypress.
Shelley called this valley "the waveless plain of Lombardy," and most people do find it drab and unappealing. Still, anywhere you drive - and this is certainly one of the easiest and most suitable places in Italy for driving - just around the bend may lurk the most astonishing surprise, such as tiny Sabbioneta, whose massive city ramparts conceal a miniature Renaissance jewel of a town, created in the 16th century by Duke Vespasiano Gonzaga.
Mantova the Magnificent is surrounded by dreary marshlands, yet it is one of northern Italy's most renowned Renaissance centers. Try to get there during the week, to avoid the hordes of tourists who flock to see Andrea Mantegna's masterpiece, the frescoed walls of the Camera degli Sposi in the Palazzo Ducale.
few miles away on the left bank of the Po, Cremona's Piazza del Comune, presided over by a Romanesque cathedral and belltower, presents a harmonious blend of many different architectural epochs.

Pavia's medieval towers can be seen from afar hovering over the rice fields that surround the town; it is one of Italy's crumbling treasures, home to the church of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro, a celebrated 12th-century Romanesque church that hosts the ornate 14th-century tomb of St. Augustine. The real reason to go to Pavia, however, is the Certosa. Located about six miles out of town, this extravagantly decorated Carthusian monastery is the Lombard Renaissance's most spectacular achievement.
Due east of Milan is Brescia, an ancient Roman town with a ruined Capitoline temple to prove it; the beautiful Piazza della Loggia, in the town center, instantly bespeaks the former dominance of the Venetian Republic.
Nearby is Trescore Balneario, a mountain resort worth visiting for its thermal baths and for Villa Suardi, whose chapel boasts frescoes by Lorenzo Lotto. Bergamo, another ancient Roman bastion, belonged to Venice for three and a half centuries.
At the heart of the old part of town, reached by funicular or by climbing steep streets to the top of the hill, is Piazza Vecchia, one of the most picturesque squares in all of Italy.
Overlooking the lake of Oggiono, Civate is a small medieval town; its church of San Pietro al Monte has a renowned cycle of late 11th-century frescoes. The Po Valley is behind us now, as we climb the foothills into one of Italy's loveliest regions, where vast, silver-blue lakes are lined with bustling little towns whose ochre, beige and terra cotta buildings meander up the flowering hillsides, which form a backdrop for the snow-capped Alps beyond. This is a traveler's paradise and Como, a bustling textile-manufacturing center, has something for everyone.
Its cathedral is one of the best examples of the Renaissance in northern Italy. In Bellagio, the spectacular gardens of Villa Melzi and Villa Serbelloni offer an alternative to the art history-oriented pace of Italian travel. Nearby is Lake Maggiore; its three islands are Isola Bella, site of the wildly extravagant Borromeo villa and gardens; Isola dei Pescatori, home of a working fishing village; and Isola Madre, with semi-tropical gardens and a simple villa. A steamer excursion on either of these lakes is spectacular, as the Italians have known since ancient Roman days.
In Galliano, the church of San Vincenzo has a singular cycle of Romanesque frescoes. Travel a few miles more and you come to Castiglione Olona, a quiet medieval town with its own Renaissance masterpiece: the 15th-century Collegiata and Baptistery, featuring frescoes by the Tuscan genius Masolino.

TOP▲

The Chapels of Lombardy
A wonderful way to combine recreation with culture is to hike to some of the many Alpine pilgrimage chapels. Clustered together in beautiful rural settings, these shrines are decorated with highly realistic tableaux vivants whose purpose was to narrate biblical stories to the often illiterate faithful as they proceeded from one shelter to the next. Today many of these shrines can be reached by car, but the fun is in leaving the modern world behind and going on foot through fields, past waterfalls, up steep mountain trails or along the shores of a lake, just as pilgrims have done for centuries. On Sundays you may find crowds; if possible, go during the week.

Varese: Drive five miles north of town to Sacro Monte; leave the car and climb the hill to the 14 sanctuaries, where sculptures and frescoes illustrate the Mysteries of the Rosaries.

Biella: The Sanctuary of Oropa is the most commercialized, yet its setting amongst waterfalls and snow-capped mountain vistas is spectacular.

Orta San Giulio: From Piazza Motta, drive up the hill to Sacro Monte, then leave the car and walk to the chapels, embellished with frescoes and terra cotta statues that tell the life story of St. Francis. The spot overlooks a peaceful lake.

Varallo: The Church of the Madonna of Loreto was the first of these shrines. The decorations in its 44 chapels are the most realistic, sometimes to a fault.

Castelseprio: The rough brick chapel of Santa Maria Foris Porta has frescoes that date from the 7th to 9th centuries and are probably Byzantine.

TOP▲