Jerusalem in the Alps: The Sacro Monte of Varallo and the Sanctuaries of North-Western Italy by Geoffrey Symcox

Abstract

Reviewed by: Jerusalem in the Alps: The Sacro Monte of Varallo and the Sanctuaries of North-Western Italy by Geoffrey Symcox Nicholas Dean Brodie Symcox, Geoffrey, Jerusalem in the Alps: The Sacro Monte of Varallo and the Sanctuaries of North-Western Italy (Cursor Mundi, 37), Turnhout, Brepols, 2019; hardback; pp. xii, 310; 7 b/w, 50 colour illustrations; R.R.P. €85.00; ISBN 9782503580579. As its subtitle suggests, this book surveys the history of the Sacro Monte of Varallo and other similar sanctuaries, or hilltop religious complexes, in north-western Italy, nine of which are UNESCO World Heritage sites. While this work is a mostly study of the history of the Sacro Monte of Varallo, the sanctuaries of Orta, Crea, Oropa, Ghiffa, Varese, Domodossola, Ossuccio, Belmonte, Graglia, and Arona are described in sequence in a final chapter that relates them to each other and the Varallo exemplar, which, the author argues, inspired a regional wave of sanctuary building. Although some of those other sanctuaries had greater claim to antiquity as sites of religious devotion than Varallo, their early modern reconfigurations were undoubtedly influenced by the Varallo experience. Symcox's argument and method is framed by the work of traveller-scholar Samuel Butler, who in the later nineteenth century promoted the sanctuaries as sites of artistic value rooted in the distinctive social and cultural environment of the north Italian alpine valleys. Ultimately, Symcox affirms the general correctness of Butler's proposition, albeit with some caveats and clarifications. More than an argumentative conceit, however, Symcox's use of Butler serves as an engaging narrative means of addressing the historiography of the sanctuaries in the book's first chapter. Then, in Chapter 2, Symcox offers a detailed treatment of the historical context in which the Varallo project emerged, especially the role of seasonal migratory labour as a regional phenomenon which allowed for the flow of artistic skills and ideas into what might otherwise be dismissed as an economic and cultural backwater. Chapter 3 is focused on the foundation of Varallo's Sacro Monte under the inspiration and initial guidance of the Observant Franciscan Friar Bernadino Caimi, who 'conceived the Sacro Monte as a replica of Jerusalem' (p. 41), a sort of substitute pilgrimage site. The plan was for a hilltop site, modelled on the Holy Sites of Jerusalem, replete with lifelike figures designed to 'appeal directly to the emotions of the onlookers' (p. 59). A monastery was founded beneath the hill, enabling oversight of the sanctuary, but also setting the scene for many of the twists and turns of the complex's later history, where concerns about ownership, income, and authority repeatedly emerge as issues of contention. As Symcox argues, the original conception of the Sacro Monte as a substitute Jerusalem soon gave way to a more narrative conception of the pilgrim experience at this location. As Chapter 4 relates, there were significant developments during the early 1500s in the administration of the Sacro Monte, including the appointment [End Page 170] of fabbricieri. In this context, the artistic influences of Gaudenzio Ferrari and Galeazzo Alessi each came to play significant roles in the site's subsequent history, further shifting the sanctuary experience away from Caimi's originally topographical approach to a more fully emotive, narratively organized, and theologically didactic one. Then, as shown in Chapter 5, this process essentially continued into the seventeenth century, facilitating a growing Marian focus in the eighteenth century that is related in Chapter 6. Meanwhile, as Symcox discusses, there were regular contemporary arguments about the distribution of income derived from pilgrim donations, some shifts in administrative responsibility, and various levels of episcopal intervention and influence, all influenced by wider forces like the Counter-Reformation and the rise of Savoyard absolutism. Not unlike Butler a century and a half earlier, this book is valuable for bringing the scholarship of the Italian alpine sanctuaries to a wider audience in an accessible format. Those interested in the history of emotive spiritualities, and proxy pilgrimage experiences, will find much of value here. Moreover, in demonstrating that the sanctuaries developed through more organic processes than sometimes asserted, Symcox also helps put to rest outdated ideas of the sanctuaries as a Counter-Reformation...