A very important place in Domodossola, which has also been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is Sacro Monte Calvario.
At one time there were plots of land some used for agricultural purposes, where vines were also grown, while some were used only for ornamentation by the religious who lived there.
Thanks to this custom, we have some very important information regarding the crop traditions of that time.
There is currently a small vegetable garden used for educational purposes used by schools to introduce kindergarten and elementary school children to agriculture.
The history of Sacro Monte Calvario starts in 1656 when two Capuchin friars chose the Mattarella hill as the place that would house it, and in 1657 work began.
After the Swiss destroyed the Mattarella Castle, a building at least dating back to the 10th century, in 1415, and the hill was abandoned for at least two centuries, the two friars thought of creating a "Processional Way" in honor of Jesus' crucifixion, and the plan included crosses, which would later become chapels with the various episodes of Christ's passion, representing the stations.
This project was a huge success among the community and the approval of the bishop of Novara, who commissioned Giovanni Matteo Capris to coordinate the project and name the hill, and the technical and construction part was entrusted to Tommaso Lazzaro.
Thanks to substantial financial help from the community, the project was very fast-tracked, in fact, in 1657 work began and in 1662 there was the inauguration mass.
Capris later made a formal request to donate the area to the court of Madrid, which accepted the request and in 1664 delegated the Governor of the State of Milan to follow up the proceedings, but it was not until 1668 that there was a cession of the area to the Sacro Monte Calvario factory in the name of Charles II of Spain.
The Sacred Mount was consecrated by the Bishop of Novara Giovanni Battista Visconti Aicardi in 1690.
A great benefactor of this project was a governor of Valais named Kaspar Stockalper, to whom a building was dedicated, who was the last man forced into exile in the town of Domodossola right on Mount Calvary.
During the 18th century, the process of building chapels and restoring existing buildings began, a practice that is still done periodically.
In the 19th century there was the arrival of Antonio Rosmini, followed by Franciscan fathers, who had the Motherhouse of the Institute of Charity built.
This place is still very important for the Rosminian fathers since it is the site of the Postulancy and the International Novitiate and because since 2007 there is one of Rosmini's four relics and the burial places of some of the most important Franciscans such as, for example, the philosopher Michele Sciacca.
