HOTEL BEL SIT - VARESE
HOTEL BEL SIT – VARESE CITY CENTER
10km - 1 hour - easy
A pleasant, virtually effortless route encompassing three points of interest in the Province: Lake Varese, the Campo dei Fiori massif and, finally, the gardens and urban architecture of Varese city center.
As soon as we start off on the SS394 road, we meet our first view of the lake, which we will keep on our right-hand side for most of the route, enjoying lovely vistas over the waters and the small lakeside villages, with the Piedmontese Alps framing it all in the distance. We cycle along an easy uphill stretch and skirt the village center, or stop to visit the Church of San Celso, a Romanesque edifice, classified among national monuments.
It can be easy to miss the Church of San Marino, parish church of Barasso, which we find to our left at the end of a short uphill stretch, but if you do pick it out, make sure to stop and take a look - as well as a breather. Continuing on in the direction of Varese we then pass in front of the Luvinate Golf Club, a former Benedictine monastery, dating back to the Twelfth Century, beautifully restored and renovated with loving care, the main body and annexed properties perfectly preserved.
A few more kilometers, including a brief muscle-warming climb, and we will find ourselves in the area of the Municipality of Casciago. From here on we will be flanked by the green profile of the Campo dei Fiori massif, to our left, with the unmistakable village of Santa Maria del Monte clinging to the mountainside.
Soon now we will be entering the city of Varese proper, taking Via Caracciolo and stopping to admire the beautiful sixteenth- and seventeenth-century villas which grace the town with their timeless elegance. In this section of the route we will notice, on the left, Villa Baragiola, a nineteenth-century residence, now housing city offices, events and official celebrations. Next comes the Masnago Castle Park, housing a major painting museum with collections of (mainly) Lombard art from the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.
At the streetlight we must take a right in Via Campigli, cycling towards Piazza Libertà, where we may admire another point of interest, Villa Recalcati, with its beautiful landscaped grounds, housing exotic botanical specimens, a place to be visited over and over again.
We are now in the city center and will soon pass an imposing pink building of remarkable length: we have reached the Estense Palace, the City Hall of Varese, which we may access through an archway opening onto a park which is also the symbol of the town itself. The Estense Gardens are truly a masterpiece, commissioned by the Duke of Modena, Francesco the Third d'Este, at the end of the sixteen-hundreds. In the hot summer months, this is where the citizens of Varese converge to enjoy their leisure time in the gardens.
Exiting the palace grounds, we pedal towards Piazza MonteGrappa; this square's most interesting feature is the intermingling of different architectural styles, from aristocratic seventeenth-century palaces to the somber public buildings in Fascist style. This improbable medley of urban characters is somehow well-balanced, focusing on the central roundabout, the true heart of city life.
Going round the famous pine tree at the center of Piazza MonteGrappa, we plunge in the intricate network of streets forming the Medieval part of town. Here we can admire the Baptistery, one of the most ancient sites in the entire Province, the San Vittore Basilica, brimming with treasures of religious art, and Via Albussi, with the famous terracotta window. To return to Piazza MonteGrappa we can choose the flagstoned Corso Matteotti, the town's shopping street, flanked by wide porticos and old, characteristic multi-storied buildings.
