THE SACRO MONTE, WHICH TRANSLATES to “Sacred Mountain of Varallo,” all started at the end of the 15th century when Franciscan friar Bernardino Caimi came back from his pilgrimage to the Holy Land of Jerusalem.

On his return to Italy, Caimi wanted to bring a bit of the Holy Land to Varallo, a commune in the country’s Piedmont region. Caimi built some modest buildings that were meant to replicate places in Jerusalem connected to Jesus Christ’s life.