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The medieval town of Varzi is home to a castle built by the Malaspina family in 1164 after inheriting from Frederick Barbarossa the territory from the Rivanazzano Hills to Oramala. The structure is currently owned by the Counts of Odetti di Marcorengo, who in 1983 embarked on a redevelopment process that ended only three years ago, in order to give this gem of architecture back to the community, opening it up to the public.
Today, the castle welcomes guests for events, weddings and local culture initiatives. Its surroundings introduce visitors to renewed splendor: what used to be a vegetable garden is now the wonderful “Garden of the Contessa” and “Limonaia”. The stables have been transformed into “Antique Mangers” that maintain an original arch and stone floors, while the main dining room was created in the old barn. Renovation also extended to the 13th-century ”Antique Ice House” and the cellars, which were used to keep typical local food like wines and cured meat. Once a symbol of the economic and commercial wealth of Varzi, the castle now showcases the gastronomic treasures of the area, including prestigious wines, almond cake, mushrooms and DOP Varzi Salami.
All between folk legends and famous stories, like the one about the castle’s tower, known as “Tower of the Witches”. Some say that during the Inquisition, twenty-five women and a handful of men were imprisoned between the 170-centimeter-thick walls of the tower, accused of witchcraft and later burned at the stake in the square right next to the building.
References:The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the municipality of Steingaden.
The sanctuary of Wies is a pilgrimage church extraordinarily well-preserved in the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, and is a perfect masterpiece of Rococo art and creative genius, as well as an exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared.
The hamlet of Wies, in 1738, is said to have been the setting of a miracle in which tears were seen on a simple wooden figure of Christ mounted on a column that was no longer venerated by the Premonstratensian monks of the Abbey. A wooden chapel constructed in the fields housed the miraculous statue for some time. However, pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and even Italy became so numerous that the Abbot of the Premonstratensians of Steingaden decided to construct a splendid sanctuary.