Varese (Vares in the dialect of Varese) is an Italian town of 81
027 inhabitants, the capital of the province of the same name in
Lombardy. The characteristic appellation of Garden City derives from
the numerous parks and gardens that are located within the
municipality, mostly appurtenances of villas built there between the
18th century and the beginning of the 20th century, first by noble
families and more recently by industrialists and representatives of
the upper class, mainly from Milan. Varese is part of the
Agricultural Region n ° 4 - Hills of Varese, of the Campo dei Fiori
regional park, and of the Network of Strategic Cities (RECS).
The inhabitants of the city are called Varesini, while the
inhabitants of the hinterland are called Varesotti. Similarly, much
of the province's territory beyond the city limits is called
Varesotto.
Religious architecture
The monuments of Varese are made up of a
rich historical-artistic heritage, of which numerous Romanesque
architectures scattered among the districts of the city, and important
examples of the Baroque and Lombard Baroque.
In fact, the
basilica of San Vittore is of particular importance, built between the
16th and 17th centuries on a 14th-century structure: the presbytery was
erected in 1542 and the main body of the church to a design by
Pellegrino Pellegrini in 1580. Alongside stands the relative bell tower,
designed by Giuseppe Bernascone and completed in the eighteenth century,
which with its height of over 77 meters is the highest building in the
city of Varese.
Next to the basilica stands the ancient baptistery of
San Giovanni Battista, built between the 12th and 13th centuries. Inside
there are evidences of the pre-existing hexagonal building dating back
to the 8th-9th century. In the centre, above the 7th-8th century
baptismal font, is the monolithic octagonal font sculpted by a master
from Campione active between the 13th and 14th centuries. On the altar,
a Madonna enthroned with saints by a 16th-century master from Vercelli.
Among the other churches scattered throughout the city, it is worth
mentioning that of San Martino, part of a former Benedictine monastery
with frescoes by Francesco Maria Bianchi (1689-1757) and Pietro Magatti
(1687-1765);
the church of Sant'Antonio alla Motta, built in
1606-1614 through the transformation of a pre-existing oratory designed
by Giuseppe Bernascone (1565-1627), with internal interventions by the
painters Giuseppe Baroffio and (to a lesser extent) Giovanni Battista
Ronchelli.
Close to the central Piazza Monte Grappa stands the church
of San Giuseppe, built as an oratory during 1504. The interior is
enriched by precious seventeenth-century frescoes by Giovan Battista Del
Sole, Melchiorre Gherardini and Giovanni Battista Ronchelli, author of
the frescoes on the wall of the choir. The canvas on the central wall,
dating back to the first half of the seventeenth century, is instead
attributed to Giulio Cesare Procaccini.
Not far from the historic
centre, in the locality of Biumo Inferiore, stands the Marian sanctuary
of the "Madonnina in Prato", the first records of which date back to
1574, on the occasion of a pastoral visit to the village of San Carlo
Borromeo. Inside the building there is a valuable late Gothic fresco,
perhaps part of a votive aedicule, depicting the Virgin enthroned with
Child, and numerous frescoes by Antonio Busca dating back to 1667. The
facade of the church was instead painted between 1678 and 1686 in Viggiù
sandstone.
The church of San Giorgio in the locality of Biumo
Superiore is also worth mentioning for some 14th-15th century frescoes
and an "Adoration with Child" by Pietro Magatti;
the church of Santo
Stefano in Bizzozero, a fine example of Lombard Romanesque from the
10th-11th century, a period to which it also dates
the Schirannetta
oratory in Casbeno e
the church of San Cassiano in Avigno, the latter
characterized by a fourteenth-century fresco on an external wall.
Worthy of note is the church of Sant'Imerio - once dedicated to San
Michele Arcangelo - in the Bosto district, a building dating back to the
11th century with 15th-century frescoes and a carved stone sarcophagus
from the 11th-12th centuries.
Of particular historical-artistic interest is the Sacro Monte di
Varese or "Fabbrica del Rosario", an important complex conceived in the
late sixteenth century by Giovanni Battista Aguggiari as an arrangement
of the pre-existing pedestrian path for the sanctuary of Santa Maria del
Monte. It is a sacred road of about two kilometers flanked by 14 votive
chapels that retrace the mysteries of the Rosary. Built starting from
1604 by Giuseppe Bernascone, since 2003 the complex has been included
with the other nine sacred mountains of Piedmont and Lombardy in the
UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The chapels, like the Mysteries of
the Rosary, are divided into groups of five, separated from each other
by triumphal arches and fountains to refresh pilgrims. There are
fourteen chapels, one less than the Mysteries of the Rosary, since the
sanctuary – the destination of the itinerary – assumes the function of
the fifteenth and last chapel, thanks to the construction that took
place in those years, of a new marble altar dedicated to the Coronation
of the Virgin, which contains a fourteenth-century wooden statue, an
icon object of special veneration.
The devotional itinerary ends
at over 800 meters above sea level in the town of Santa Maria del Monte.
Here the sanctuary stands out, built on a small church of remote origins
and built from 1472 to a design by Bartolomeo Gadio. The precious
interior of the building preserves frescoes by Giovan Mauro della Rovere
and Antonio Busca. The church, a pilgrimage destination, dates back to
the Middle Ages and preserves, under the presbytery, a Romanesque crypt
dating back to around the 11th century. The interior has a Baroque
layout, and the naves are the work of Giovanni Battista della Rovere,
Giovanni Paolo Ghianda from Como, as well as the brothers Giovanni
Battista and Giovanni Francesco Lampugnani, the latter authors of some
frescoes in the XII chapel and in the church of the Immaculate
Conception, located at the beginning of the via Sacra.
In
addition to the bell tower of the sanctuary, designed by Giuseppe
Bernascone in 1599, the fountain of Moses is significant, built to
implement a resolution taken by the Administration of the Sanctuary in
1803. Located at the end of the devotional path, the fountain - designed
by the architect Francesco Maria Argenti di Viggiù and by the Ravenna
sculptor Gaetano Monti - is formed by a neoclassical façade set on a
high base with regular ashlars. Finished in 1834 it was never completed
due to the lack of two statues in a seated position on the sides of the
pedestal and four on the balustrade in correspondence with the columns.
At the base of the monument there is a basin which receives spring water
from a lion's head. Since 2010, the "Between Sacro and Sacro Monte"
series has been held, a theater festival commissioned by the Paul VI
foundation for the Sacro Monte of Varese.
The city of Varese is full of villas and castles, often built by the
Borromeo family or in Art Nouveau style. These are historic villas, for
the most part museums (such as Villa Mirabello, located in the Palazzo
Estense complex) or provincial institutional bodies, of great charm,
both for the buildings and for the magnificent gardens that surround
them. In addition to some buildings scattered in the historic center of
the city, such as Palazzo Pretorio or Villa Cagna, a residential complex
that also houses the civic Liceo Musicale of Varese, there are some
important buildings already destined in the past to luxurious hotels and
important accommodation facilities.
Among these stands out Villa
Recalcati in the locality of Casbeno built in the first half of the 18th
century, then enlarged during 1756-75, it was conceived as a luxury
hotel, now it is the seat of the Province of Varese and of the
Prefecture. Close to the city center is Villa Mylius, sold to the
municipality of Varese in 2007. Already owned by the Jesuit Fathers of
Varese, in 1773 the villa and the park were sold to the notable
Francesco Torelli, who transformed it from a modest building into a a
real villa, then sold in 1905 to the industrialist Giorgio Mylius. With
his death, the property was divided among various heirs, who in 1946
agreed to sell it to Achille Cattaneo from Varese, and he donated it to
the administration.
In Sant'Ambrogio stands Villa Toeplitz,
considered one of the most beautiful villas with a public park in the
city. The complex takes its name from Giuseppe Toeplitz (1866-1938), a
banker of Polish origin who bought it in 1914. Already a modest country
residence of the German Hannesen family, it was enlarged by Toeplitz
when, after the Second World War, his wife Edvige Mrozowska and their
son Ludovico they sold it to the Mocchetti brothers of Legnano. The
complex with the elegant Italian park passed to the Municipality of
Varese in 1972.
Also noteworthy are the Ville Ponti, built
between 1850 and 1870 to a design by the Milanese architect Giuseppe
Balzaretto (1801-1874), they were restructured in 1976 and converted
into an important congress centre. The main building, immersed in a
valuable public park, is internally decorated by Giuseppe Bertini
(1825-1898), while the neoclassical villa called "Fabio Ponti" - the
oldest building in the whole complex - is remembered for being the
Garibaldi's headquarters in 1859. Still in Biumo Superiore, next to the
entrance to the Ville Ponti stands Villa Menafoglio Litta Panza. Built
from the mid-eighteenth century on the initiative of the Marquis Paolo
Antonio Menafoglio, it is one of the best preserved examples of a
holiday home in the whole Varese area, both from the point of view of
architecture and from that of territorial importance. The villa with the
Italian garden was partially transformed in the Napoleonic period
(neoclassical hall) together with the park to which English-style parts
were added. Listed since 1996 as an asset protected by the FAI, the
building currently houses the contemporary art collection of the Panza
family.
In Biumo Inferiore, an ancient resort of delightful
villas in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the neoclassical
Villa Dandolo (by Leopoldo Pollack) and Villa Kevenhueller (for a long
time attributed to Pollack himself) and Villa Orrigoni (renovated by
Simone Cantoni) remain they have unfortunately lost most of the ancient
parks.
In the district of Masnago there is instead Villa
Baragiola, to be mentioned above all for the English park. On the north
side, in the shadow of Mount Campo dei Fiori, in 1895 the lawyer Andrea
Baragiola inaugurated one of the first Italian racetracks, which
extended up to the area now occupied by the "Franco Ossola" stadium and
its large parking lot. The 19th-century villa was renovated in the early
1930s and again in the following decade, when it was used as a religious
seminary. Passed to the Municipality of Varese in 2001, today it houses
part of its offices, while the park is open to the public.
In
Giubiano, on the other hand, we should mention Villa Augusta, built in
the second half of the 19th century. Previously owned by Testoni, it
passed to the Circolo di Varese hospital and then, on 30 September 1952,
it was transferred to the order of the Auxiliatrici nuns of Purgatory in
Rome. Purchased by the municipal administration on 12 December 1968, the
villa houses a municipal company, while the park has been open to the
public since 5 April 1970.
Giubiano also houses Villa Albuzzi
Tamagno, the result of a series of extensions and reworkings of an
eighteenth-century residence which, already in 1731, included an oratory
decorated by Giulio Baroffio (brother of the more famous Giuseppe). The
villa was built on commission from the Albuzzi (or Buzzi) family, who in
1802 donated it to the Ospedale dei Poveri of Varese, an institution
which from 1805 to 1837 granted it in emphyteosis to the Milanese
Allodi. The latter was succeeded by the Carozzi-Piccinini family, who
from 1837 to 1841 transformed the residence into a late-neoclassical
building with a "U" layout. During the battle of Varese in 1859, the
villa was chosen by the Austro-Hungarian general Karl von Urban as his
headquarters. In 1885 the property was taken over by the tenor Francesco
Tamagno, to whom we owe a makeover of the interior and an extension of
the back of the villa. This last intervention involved the construction
of a theater and a staircase in a romantic style. Tamagno himself also
owes some reworking of the oratory and the vast English park. From
Tamagno's daughter, in 1932, the villa definitively passed to the
Circolo di Varese hospital.
Also noteworthy are the following
residences.
Casa Grossi, built by the physicist Luigi Grossi in 1826
on land purchased by the Comollis. Designed by Gaetano Besia, the house
is located in front of a park whose style is halfway between an English
garden and a Dutch park.
Casino Paravvicini, a three-story
late-neoclassical residence built in two years, from 1830 to 1832, to a
design by the architect Pestagalli.
Villa De' Cristoforis, in Bosto,
built in the years 1760-1770 incorporating a small Renaissance church of
Romanesque origin, dedicated to Saint Peter. The villa was built on
commission from the De' Cristoforis family, who sold the property in
1876 in order to transform it into a boarding school, active until 1908.
Subsequent owners of the residence were, in order, the Colombo family
and that of the Mazzucchelli. Inserted in an English park, the villa
houses inside a ballroom inspired by that of Palazzo Estense.
Villa
Carmen Sylva (1900), commissioned by Giuseppe Trolli to the Romanian
Oscar Maucsk, who designed it inspired by Peleș Castle. The villa is
located in Miogni Inferiori.
Belforte Castle
On the promontory that dominates the Belforte
district stands an ancient ruined manor house, now known as the Belforte
castle. The toponym, contraction of "Bellum-Fortis", would be of Roman
derivation and would confirm the existence of a military post prior to
the medieval period. Documentation records the presence of a
fortification already existing in 1164, with the function of a bulwark
and lookout for the streets along the Olona. At the beginning of the
15th century the property passed into the hands of the Biumi family, who
in the mid-17th century transformed the building into a luxurious
residence of notable architectural value, equipped with an unfinished
portico. In 1660, the residence is still attested as a complex still
endowed with both the features of a fortress and those of a country
residence. Abandoned over the centuries, today it is a ruined complex
awaiting restoration.
Mantegazza Castle
The Mantegazza Castle
stands in Masnago. The massive square tower from the 12th century bears
witness to the defensive purpose of the architectural complex, developed
during the 15th century and completed with a 17th-18th century wing
which gave the ancient fortress its current appearance of a stately
home. From the 15th century the residence of the Castiglioni family,
originally from the nearby medieval village of Castiglione Olona, the
disappearance of the family at the beginning of the 20th century with
the death of the Marquis Paolo Castiglioni Stampa marked the passage of
the castle to Angelo Mantegazza of Varese, then to the Panza family in
the 1960s and finally to the Municipality in 1981 which destined it as
the seat of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. Inside the
building are preserved rare examples of profane frescoes in Lombardy, an
expression of the international Gothic style. Of notable interest, due
to the extraordinary wealth of plant species, is the park of the castle,
a real botanical garden with over a hundred trees and shrubs, among
which majestic specimens of holm oak and strawberry tree stand out.
Velate Tower
In Velate - a fortified village existing since the
late Roman era ("castrum de Vellate") - there is one of the most
beautiful medieval remains in the area. It is a tower dating back to the
11th century which, inserted in the ancient defensive structure of the
pre-Alpine Limes, was intended as a military garrison of the underlying
road to Angera and Lake Maggiore. The structure, in stone, with a
quadrangular plan, reaches a height of 33.50 meters, with five floors
above ground served by an articulated stairwell located on the eastern
side. The mighty fort, of which only two sides remain and only one is
fully preserved, was seriously damaged at the end of the 12th century by
the Milanese victorious over the imperial militias and Barbarossa's
allies, among whom were the nobles of Velate. Currently the tower, which
constitutes a fixed point in the hilly landscape around Varese, is owned
by the Fondo per l'Ambiente Italiano.
natural areas
In
addition to the numerous public parks of the city, often pertaining to
historic villas, the Luigi Zanzi Park in Schiranna is worth mentioning,
established in the sixties through a partial filling of the coast of
Lake Varese. It is a large botanical garden that stands on the Varese
shores of the lake, rich in numerous tree species and avifauna that
finds shelter in part in the reeds along the banks. Bathing beach in
summer, the park also offers the possibility of peaceful walks and
bicycle excursions on the cycle path.
Close to the city of Varese
stands the Campo dei Fiori regional park, a naturalistic area of over
five thousand hectares made up of the massive Mount Campo dei Fiori and
Mount Martica, separated by the Rasa valley which is the junction point
between Valcuvia and the Olona valley. Once the summit of Campo dei
Fiori was characterized by extensive grassy areas, which is why it was a
historic destination for tourism in Varese and Milan. Today it is the
spectacular blooms - which gave the area its name - that constitute one
of its main attractions. It is a very diversified place that shows
aspects of extreme interest, linked both to the natural environment and
to historical and cultural testimonies, referring to a past full of
events and traditions. There are small farming villages, monumental
complexes of rare beauty, articulated cave systems and a well-kept
network of paths: some of which can be traveled not only on foot, but
also on horseback and by bicycle. Six nature reserves have been
established within the Park which enclose the most important and
characteristic environments.
European School of Varese, one of only 14 existing European schools
in the European Union and the only one in Italy
Ernesto Cairoli
Classical High School
University
University of Insubria
University institute in linguistic mediation sciences
The Archaeological Civic Museum of Villa Mirabello collects materials
from prehistory to the early Middle Ages, coming from collections,
excavations and casual discoveries, which make it a prestigious center
recognized at a scientific level. It also houses an archaeological and
historical-artistic library open to the public with a heritage of over
10,000 publications including monographs and sector magazines.
The
Ponti Prehistoric Museum, a branch of the Villa Mirabello Archaeological
Museum, is located on the little island of Virginia, in a larger
archaeological and restricted environmental area. With ministerial
concession, archaeological investigations have resumed since 2006 which
have brought to light monumental wooden remains of the arrangement of
banks and houses dating back to the 5th millennium BC. In the
archaeological park you can visit the outdoor didactic itinerary and, as
the excavations proceed, the museum presentation of the phases of the
life of the town.
The Civic Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art,
which is housed in the castle of Masnago, preserves works by numerous
modern and contemporary artists that came from some illustrious families
from Varese. Strong is the imprint of the Lombard pictorial culture of
the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century with works by
Francesco Hayez, Giuseppe Bertini, Tranquillo Cremona, Giacomo Balla and
Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo. In addition to the seventeenth-eighteenth
century pictorial season, documented by the works of Giulio Cesare
Procaccini, Morazzone and Pietro Antonio Magatti, the section of the
twentieth century in Varese is also worth mentioning with the works of
Innocente Salvini, Domenico De Bernardi and Leo Spaventa Filippi.
The
Lodovico Pogliaghi House-Museum at the Sacro Monte di Varese was the
residence of the Milanese artist Lodovico Pogliaghi (1857-1950), and
bears witness to nineteenth-century eclecticism. The house collects the
most diverse objects by era and geographical area collected by Pogliaghi
in his frequent travels around the world. Of particular interest are
some sculptures by Giambologna, two canvases by Magnasco and a
terracotta sketch by Bernini, as well as various archaeological finds
and a significant collection of ancient carpets.
The Baroffio and
Sacro Monte Museum, reopened in 2001 after a ten-year closure, was
inaugurated in 1936 by card. Ildefonso Schuster with the legacy of Baron
Giuseppe Baroffio dall'Aglio (1859-1929). Among the numerous works
preserved, paintings by Camillo Procaccini, Bartolomeo Schedoni, Pietro
Antonio Magatti stand out, as well as works by 20th century masters such
as Aldo Carpi, Aligi Sassu and Renato Guttuso, kept in a section of
contemporary sacred art commissioned by Msgr. Pasquale Macchi.
The
Villa Panza Museum, housed in the building now owned by the Fondo
Ambiente Italiano - built in the 18th century by the Marquis Paolo
Antonio Menafoglio and enlarged in the neoclassical period by the
Ticino-born architect Luigi Canonica - is famous for its renowned
collections of contemporary art collected from the fifties by Giuseppe
Panza di Biumo. Also preserved are furnishings from the 16th-19th
centuries and an important collection of African and pre-Columbian art.
The park of the villa is also of considerable importance, redesigned in
the first decades of the 19th century respecting the canons of the 18th
century formal garden.
The astronomical observatory G.V. Schiaparelli
was founded in 1956 by Salvatore Furia and dedicated to the Italian
astronomer Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli. It is a complex that stands
on Mount Campo dei Fiori at an altitude of over 1200 m, immersed in an
important botanical garden of about sixty hectares, intended to recreate
a pre-Alpine habitat, increasing its biodiversity. The observatory
houses a small museum with photographs and astronomical objects.
The
Tactile Museum was inaugurated in April 2011 in the rooms of Villa
Baragiola in Masnago. Alongside the existing ones in Madrid and Ancona,
the Tactile Museum of Varese aims to promote knowledge that is a point
of reference for blind and blind people through an articulated series of
multisensory learning paths.
The refectory of the former convent of
Sant'Antonino, known as Sala Veratti - from the family of the same name
who bought the complex after the suppression of the monastery in 1789 by
Emperor Joseph II - is currently a public space intended for
conferences, exhibitions and temporary art exhibitions. The hall, with a
rectangular plan, is accessed through what was once the back wall
(initially without openings), while the ancient door that overlooked the
cloister of Sant'Antonino has been walled up. The refined decorative
apparatus, dating back to the 16th century, was completed starting in
1736 with interventions by Pietro Antonio Magatti and the Baroffio
brothers.
Press
The Prealpine
The Province of Varese
Radio
Franciscan Mission Radio
Radio Varese
Television
Network 55
The theatrical tradition of Varese has its origins in the year 1776,
when Duke Francesco II d'Este (desiring to introduce opera performances
in the city, both to satisfy his personal interest and to attract a
greater influx of wealthy vacationers and noble foreigners, with whom he
could possibly make agreements and alliances) commissioned the
construction of the first Teatro della Ducal Signoria, which adapted a
building previously used as a convent of the order of San Gerolamo
(located on the current Piazza Repubblica) for this purpose. The result
was a small hall, which was inaugurated on November 10 of the
aforementioned year, with the staging of the opera L'Isola d'Alcina by
Giuseppe Gazzaniga and Giovanni Bertati. Following further interventions
inside the building, in 1779 the theater (further enlarged) assumed the
name of Ducale.
This theater soon proved to be insufficient to
cope with the growing popularity of the opera genre in the city, so it
was closed in 1790: the building was then used as a military barracks, a
use it kept until the 20th century, when it fell into almost total
abandonment. Also in 1790, the engineer Ottavio Torelli set up a company
to raise funds to be used for the construction of a new theatre. The
constitution was ratified with a notarial deed dated 14 February 1791
and shortly thereafter, on 23 March, following the purchase of land in
the city center (between the current Piazza Giovine Italia and Via
Gioacchino Rossini), works were started of edification. The Teatro
Sociale could already be inaugurated on 15 September of the same year.
The hall had a stage, stalls, three tiers of boxes and a gallery:
the program, initially focused on opera buffa and ballet, in the 19th
century veered decisively towards lyric drama. The activity continued
until the 1930s: poor maintenance first led to its closure, decreed in
1937, and finally its total demolition in 1953.
In the period
before the First World War two other theaters were built: the Kursaal
(attached to the Palace Hotel of Colle Campigli, destroyed by bombing in
1944) and the Cinema Teatro Politeama (closed in 2008).
Various
theaters were finally established from the 1940s onwards: the main ones
were the Cinema Teatro Impero (built in 1940 and subsequently
transformed into a multiplex cinema in the early years of the 3rd
millennium), the Cinema Teatro Nuovo (opened in 1959) and the Cinema
Teatro Vela (built in 1966 and closed in the III millennium). In 2002,
in a modern building located on the site of the former covered market in
Piazza Repubblica, the Teatro di Varese Mario Apollonio was inaugurated,
which since then has been the main sector institution in the city of
Varese.
Since 2003, the international Cortisonic short film festival has been
held annually in Varese.
Delitto a Porta Romana, a 1980 film set
in Milan, includes a hockey scene filmed at PalAlbani in Varese.
During 2013, the city of Varese hosted the shooting of the feature film
Scherzi: the film, the set of which was also set up in Piazza Monte
Grappa.
Between July and September 2013, various scenes of the
film Il praetore, based on the novel by Piero Chiara, Il praetore di
Cuvio, were filmed in the city centre. In general, the shooting of the
entire film was mostly done in the Varese area. Closely around the city
center also hosted some filming of Human Capital.
Again in 2018
the Grand Hotel Campo dei Fiori (on the mountain of the same name)
hosted a large part of the filming of Suspiria, a remake of the 1977
film of the same name.
Musical groups
Bassistinti
Court (band)
Bad people
Hierbamala
Kaso & Maxi B
madbones
OTR
Porn magazines
Undertone
Record labels
Midfinger Records
Ghost Records
Tube
Records
Chronic Area
Typical of Varese is the amor polenta (or sweet of Varese), a cake of the Lombard culinary tradition made with corn flour.
How to get there
By plane
The nearest airport is
Milan Malpensa
Airport, 20 minutes away by car. There is a well-served rail link to
Varese via Milan.
By car
Motorway dei Laghi A8 from Milan.
Departure from Switzerland, exit to Mendrisio and drive to Varese
through the Stabio-Gaggiolo customs
By train
The Servizio
Ferroviario Regionale connects Varese by train with other major cities
in Lombardy and Switzerland (Canton of Tessin). Services are provided by
the Trenitalia and Ferrovie Nord railway network.
By public transport
Public transport services on urban routes and
suburban bus routes are jointly offered by Autoservizi G.L.C. SpA,
Autolinee Varesine Srl and Baldioli Attilio SpA as Consorzio Trasporti
Pubblici Insubria (C.T.P.I.).
Public Transport Consortium
Insubria Scarl (C.T.P.I.), Via Bainsizza 27, Varese, IT 21100, ☎ +39
0332 731110, fax: +39 0332 330720, bigliettazione@ctpi.it.
https://www.ctpi.it/it/Servizi-urbani/Tariffe-urbane.htm. The main
ticket office is located on Piazza Trieste in Varese.
City bus
lines: Varese has city bus lines that serve the municipal area and are
marked with letters of the alphabet.
To Bumo Superior ↔ Capolago
AB Sangallo ↔ Capolago ↔ Bumo Superiore
B Sangallo ↔ Corridoni
From Sacro Monte ↔ Bizzozero Nabreshina
CF Campo de' Fiori ↔ Sacro
Monte
I Avigno/Palasport ↔ Bizzozero
G Piazzale Trieste ↔ Piazzale
Trieste (circle line)
H Montello ↔ San Fermo
N Calcinate del Pesce
↔ Mentasti Cemetery / Belforte
Or Piazzale Trieste ↔ Corso Moro ↔
Circolo Hospital
Polona ↔ Velate
RS Reinforzi Scolastici and CFP
Z Bregazzana ↔ Calcinat degli Origoni
Suburban buses and bus
routes: Varese is connected to neighboring towns by a system of suburban
buses and buses.
D Varese ↔ Azzat
L Varese ↔ Bisuschio
M
Varese ↔ Morosolo
B45 Varese ↔ Gornate Olona ↔ Tradate
N01 Luino ↔
Agra ↔ Kurilla
N02 Luino ↔ Maccagno ↔ Brancho Bieno
N03 Luino ↔
Ticinallo ↔ Calde ↔ Laveno
N04 Luino ↔ Kremenaga ↔ Lavena Ponte Tresa
N05 Varese ↔ Clivio
N06 Varese ↔ Bisuschio ↔ Cuasso al Monte with a
branch towards Ponte Tresa
N07 Clivio ↔ Saltrio ↔ Viggiù ↔ Bisuschio
N09 Varese ↔ Hanna ↔ Marzio dir. Cunardo
N10 Varese ↔ Girla ↔ Luino
N12 Mesenzana ↔ Malpensata ↔ Montegrino ↔ Luino
N13 Varese ↔ Brinzio
↔ Orino ↔ Cuvelho with branches
N15 Luino ↔ Malpensata ↔ Cittillo ↔
Laveno Mombello
Branch N15D
N18 Laveno ↔ Leggiuno ↔ Turro ↔ Ispra
JRC/Besozzo
N19 Gavirat ↔ Gemonio ↔ Sanguiano ↔ Laveno
N20 Varese
↔ Gavirate ↔ Brebbia ↔ Angera with branches
Branch N20B Bregano
N21 Varese ↔ Osmate/Ispra JRC
N23 Varese ↔ Varano Borghi - Sesto
Calende
N24 Varese ↔ Azzate ↔ Daverio ↔ Villadocia
N25 Varese ↔
Azzate ↔ Sesto Calende ↔ Arona
N27 Varese ↔ Castelseprio ↔ Carnago
with branches
N28 Luino City Service
By taxi
RadioTaxi
Varese, ☎ +39 0332 241800,
info@radiotaxivarese.com
"Great vision! Seven lakes could be seen at sunset. Believe me, you
can travel all over France and Germany, but you will never experience
such sensations.
(Stendal, Rome, Naples and Florence)
The city of Varese has a characteristic location, at the foot of the
Sacro Monte di Varese (in the Prealps of Varese), which is part of the
Campo dei Fiori and is home to an astronomical observatory, as well as
the Alpine Geophysical Center. The village, which occupies the middle
part of the mountain, is called Santa Maria del Monte because of the
medieval sanctuary, which can be reached along the avenue of the Sacro
Monte chapels. The lake of the same name, bordering it at the level of
some villages, marks the lowest outskirts of the city.
Varese is
located on seven hills: Colle di San Pedrino (Bosto area) (402 m), Colle
di Giubiano (407 m), Colle Campigli (453 m), Colle di Sant' Albino
(opposite Bosto near Viale Europa) (406 m), Colle di Biumo Superiore
(439 m), Colle di Montalbano (Villa Mirabello) (411 m) and Colle dei
Miogni (492 m). Thus, the territory of the municipality is located at an
altitude of 238 to 1150 m above sea level. The total high-altitude
course is 912 meters. The municipal house is located at an altitude of
382 m above sea level.
Seismic classification: zone 4 (very low
seismicity), PCM Decree n. 3274 dated 03/20/2003
The territory of Varese is crossed by numerous streams and is
influenced by Lake Varese. In the village of Rasa di Varese, the Olona
river has three sources, always in this village Olona receives the
waters of the Legnone, Des and Sesnivi (or Valle del Forno) streams.
Downstream, in the region of Bregazzana, the Brachet, Pissabo, Boscaccia
and Grassi streams also flow into the Olona. In the northeast, the
eastern spring branch of the Olona, which flows into Valganna, borders
on Varese; on the border between Varese and Induno Olona, the Pedana
della Madonna stream flows into the river. Below Santa Maria del Monte
flows what can be considered the channel of Varese, the Vellone stream.
After passing through the Velate region, it crosses the covered city and
then flows into the Olona in the Belforte region.
To the north of
the village of Rasa, the Buragona stream originates, fed by a tributary
of the Valgallina, a tributary of Lake Brinzio. In the extreme north of
the region of Varese, on the crest of the Campo dei Fiori, Intrino and
Riazzo are born, which bathe the city of Brinzio. Some of the streams
that flow into Lake Varese originate in the mountainous area of Varese,
notably Val Luna and Río di Caschago.
South of Varese flows the
Rogia Nuova, which flows into the lake at Capolago. The Selvagna brook
originates in the Bizzozero and flows into the Olona near Castiglione
Olona. In the area of Torre San Quirico, almost on the border with
Gazzada Schianno, the Arno or Arnetta stream is born, one of the main
watercourses of the regions of Lower Varesotto and Upper Milan.
The winter in Varese is little affected by the moderating influence of Lake Maggiore and other smaller lakes in the province. Minimum temperatures in late autumn and winter often drop even a few degrees below zero. It is the low nighttime temperatures that create a different climate in the areas south of this city. As in other pre-Alpine cities in Lombardy, fog is a rare occurrence. With thermal data, Varese is on average cooler than other Lombard capitals of the Prealpine Alps, especially in winter. Whereas until the 1980s the rainfall in Varese was one of the highest in Italy, averaging over 1500 mm per year, in recent decades the average annual rainfall has decreased significantly. Similarly, in recent years, snow has been fairly sporadic in the city during the winter. Climate classification: zone E, 2652
The oldest document bearing the name of Varese is a parchment dated
June 8, 922, stored in the State Archives of Milan.
The toponym
Varese, apparently, comes from the Celtic word Vara (water), which is
associated with the proximity of the lake of the same name. And the name
would come to the place not so much because of the presence of the
stream Vellone, but because of the bottom of the valley where the
village stands, marshy because of the waters flowing from the
surrounding hills. After all, once the water was several meters below
the ground, and during prolonged rains, the basements were flooded with
water, and in the squares, also because of the clay soil, puddles
stagnated for a long time.
The origin is also assumed to be from
the Roman noble names Varia, Varius, as well as from the praetor Publius
Quintilius Varus. The origin is also not from Vallexitum or Vallesium,
from which Varisium, due to the mutation of l to r, has been common in
the dialect of this area since ancient times (there are traces of the
12th century), and this is due to the fact that it was located at the
mouth of the valleys. The proximity of numerous forests also suggests
the term virens, equivalent to greenery.
Antiquity
The first traces of settlement found in the area date
back to prehistoric times, in fact the numerous exhibits on display in
the Mirabello Villa Museum and finds of pile settlements on the small
island of Virginia show that the area was inhabited as early as 3000 BC.
On this islet off the coast of Biandronno, in 1863, Abbe Stoppani
and two Swiss archaeologists actually found the remains of a pile
dwelling. Subsequent exploration led to the discovery of ten more
settlements on the lake, scattered among the current municipalities of
Bardello, Cazzago Brabbia and Bodio Lomnago, dating from between the
Lower Neolithic and the early Iron Age.
However, accurate
information about the village was not available until the Golasecca
culture arose, spreading throughout the Lombard-Piedmontese territory
and whose evolution would continue well beyond the foundation of the
Roman Empire. The important lines of communication, used primarily by
merchants and soldiers, which connected Milan with modern-day
Switzerland via Valganna, Ponte Tresa, and the canton of Ticino, would
soon emphasize Varese's importance as a transit point.
Via
Varisium, the Roman name for Varese, passed through Mediolanum-Bilitio,
which connected Mediolanum (Milan) with Luganum (Lugano).
Middle
Ages
The presence of buildings such as the Torre degli Ariani near
Sacro Monte or the churches of San Cassiano and Ippolito near Velate
testify to the social and economic viability of the Varese area already
in the late Roman era. Archaeological research carried out between the
20th and 21st centuries in the crypt of the Sacro Monte Sanctuary
confirmed the presence of the first early Christian settlement in the
area.
In the early Middle Ages, Varese participated in the
historical events of Seprio and in the internal struggle between Como
and Milan, relations with which date back to 1045 with the election of
Guido da Velate of Varese as archbishop and an alliance that determined
the defeat of Federico Barbarossa in 1176. With the fall of Castelseprio
in 1287 and the rise of the Visconti, the connection between Varese and
Milan became even closer and stronger. Built in the 11th century by
numerous defensive garrisons, partly still in existence today, designed
to control access to the Po Valley from the north, in the 14th century
Varese acquired the first statutes governing urban life, based on a
substantial and privileged government autonomy that lasted, with few
exceptions, until the second half of the 18th century. After the unrest
that broke out with the death of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, in 1407 the
leader Facino Cane, Count of Biandrate, proclaimed himself lord of
Varese, usurping the privileges that Giovanni Maria Visconti was to
return to the village three years later. The subsequent period of Sforza
provided Varese with a certain economic development with the
strengthening of the local market, which was chosen as the venue for an
important fair for the sale of horses from behind the Alps. With the
subsequent invasion of Swiss mercenaries, the beginning of Spanish rule
and the outbreak of numerous epidemics, the area slipped into an era of
decline, from which it recovered only at the turn of the new century.
The emergence of Carlo Borromeo as Archbishop of Milan marked an
important period of political and cultural renewal in Varese. His visit
in 1567 actually contributed to the change of his ecclesiastical
institution, giving new strength to the monastery of Santa Maria del
Monte, which soon opened one of the most important artistic enterprises
in Lombardy. The project, which included building a Via Sacra to reach
the sanctuary, began when Father Giovanni Battista Agugiari managed to
raise the sum of 1 million imperial lire, including some of the noble
Milanese families. Previously, the only access to the Sanctuary was
through the impenetrable path that still connects the Velate area with
the Sacro Monte and Campo dei Fiori, passing through the site of Monte
San Francesco in Pertica, where the tower has stood for centuries. and
then one of the oldest Franciscan communities. It was probably Borromeo
who decreed the final decline of the site and a dramatic change of
course in favor of a female monastic community associated with the most
important noble families of the time. The construction, which began in
1604 and was completed in its present form in 1698, involved famous
artists such as Morazzone and Cerano, under the initial direction of the
architect Giuseppe Bernascone. The enterprise which turned Varese into a
genuine bulwark of Catholicism against the Protestant threat was carried
out during the epidemic crises of the early seventeenth century, the
most serious of which, recorded in 1628, caused severe famine and
numerous deaths from the plague.
In the second half of the
century, the political situation stabilized, and in the 18th century the
borders with Switzerland were fixed (Congress in Varese, 1752), which
anticipated the reform of urban government only five years later, when,
abolishing all factions, city government was entrusted to the oligarchic
form for the general convocation of all the wealthy with a fortune of
more than 3,000 lire, who elected their permanent delegation and the
regency council, as well as various specific magistrates, such as the
chancellor, mayor and janitor, all subject to the supreme authority of
the podesta of royal appointment.
After the stabilization of
relations with Switzerland, Varese was increasingly visited by families
belonging to the Milanese nobility and the upper middle class. In 1765,
Maria Teresa gave Varese into the personal possession of Francesco III
d'Este, Duke of Modena and Lord of Varese. It was a particularly happy
and prosperous period, including from a cultural point of view. New
monasteries sprang up, some grandiose, such as the monastery of the
Capuchins and Discalced Carmelites, the nuns of Sant'Antonino; new
brotherhoods created their own oratorios and that “golden age” of the
Varese holidays was brewing, which developed primarily in the 19th
century and up to the First World War. When Emperor Joseph II ascended
the throne, Varese became the residence of the superintendent and was
appointed the capital of one of the six provinces into which Lombardy
was divided in 1786: with the elevation of the village to the capital of
the province of the same name. , the territory also included the
Gallarate area. In 1797, the city became the capital of the ephemeral
department of Verbano, which was then incorporated into the department
of Olona, and in 1801 became vice-prefecture of the department of Lario,
with Como as its capital. The Napoleonic government decided on the first
expansion of the municipal territory, deciding in 1809 to annex Bobbiate
and Capolago, and in 1812 Lissago, Masnago and Induno.
When Napoleonic power weakened and the old regime was restored after
the French upheavals, in 1816 the changed village was raised to the rank
of a city - with its political and administrative prerogatives,
including the election of the first municipal council - by Emperor
Francis I. Austria, which, however, confirmed its ownership to the
province of Como, the new name of the former department of Lario.
During the Second War of Independence, on May 26, 1859, the city
became the scene of a clash between volunteers of the Alpine hunters
under the command of Giuseppe Garibaldi and the troops of the
Lombardo-Veneto kingdom. The episode known as the Battle of Varese took
place when, before the final expulsion of the Austrians in the
victorious Battle of Magenta on June 4, Garibaldi and the Garibaldians
defeated the troops of General Karl von Urban.
The national
association was the springboard for the city of its economic and social
development, which, which continued until the First World War, included
the paper, leather, shoe, mechanical and aviation industries. Such
widespread growth led not only to a noticeable well-being of the
population, but also to an orderly urban development, for which Varese
received the title of a garden city. The construction of at least a
hundred large villas with parks, to which were added luxury hotels in
the Art Nouveau style, designed, among others, by the Milanese architect
Giuseppe Sommaruga, increased the tourist interest in Varese at the
beginning of the twentieth century.
With the advent of the
fascist party in the government of Italy in 1927, Mussolini elevated
Varese to the capital of a new provincial entity, thereby breaking ties
with the city of Como. Shortly thereafter, the municipal territory was
expanded by merging the neighboring municipalities of Bizzozero,
Bobbiate, Capolago, Induno Olona, Lissago, Masnago, Sant'Ambrogio Olona,
Santa Maria del Monte and Velate.
Varese and its territory were
the object of important and significant partisan actions, especially
during the years of the Italian Social Republic, when the city and its
territory fell into the hands of the resurgent Nazi-fascist troops. The
unsuccessful, but still important guerrilla action of the Regio Esercito
Italiano-Group 5 giorni group of Colonel Bersaglieri Carlo Croce marked
the beginning of a swift and brutal repression against anti-fascists,
deserters and Jews[19]. The latter, flowing from the main centers of
Italy and heading for Switzerland - if they were not captured on Italian
territory or became victims of unjustified deportations - sometimes
received help from the local population. The decisive role in their
rescue was played in Varese by Calogero Marrone, the head of the Civil
Registry Office of the municipality, today among the nations, who, at
the risk of his own life, forged dozens of documents, thus opening an
easier escape route for many of them. .
At the end of the Second
World War, the city and its territory, from which Induno Olona was
separated in 1950, gradually expanded, facilitated by economic and
social development, which led to important and controversial urban
transformations already as the creation of the central square of Monte
Grappa, according to the project Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo - determined a
strong industrial growth, accompanied by a parallel demographic growth.
In 2016, asteroid 277816 was renamed "277816 Varese" by researchers
Luca Buzzi and Federica Luppi of the Schiaparelli Astronomical
Observatory on Campo de' Fiori.
The city of Varese developed in a completely anomalous way compared to other Lombard cities: from the ancient medieval village that gravitated around the basilica of San Vittore, in fact, five nuclei had arisen which, while maintaining a certain independence, were in any case economically linked , social and religious with the primitive village. To these small towns, also called "castellanze" - Biumo Superiore, Biumo Inferiore, Giubiano, Bosto and Casbeno - were added in 1927, following the elevation of Varese to provincial capital, some surrounding municipalities - Santa Maria del Monte, Velate, S. Ambrogio Olona, Masnago, Lissago, Bobbiate, Capolago, Cartabbia, Bregazzana and Bizzozero. Their aggregation contributed to the subsequent urban development of those agricultural areas which, in fact, separated Varese and the nucleuses united to it. That ancient space of vineyards and arable land was then gradually transformed, welcoming - starting from the nineteenth century to reach its peak in the thirties of the twentieth century - the villas of the rich industrial bourgeoisie, which would help to mend the "widespread" urban fabric .
The historic center of Varese develops around the "broletto", a
cobbled courtyard belonging to the adjacent Palazzo Biumi, a noble
seventeenth-century residence of one of the most prominent families in
the village. On two sides of the courtyard, prior to the construction of
the building, some frescoes of illustrious local personalities are still
visible. The broletto, today a transit area, was originally a grain
market, even if the etymology "little brolo" (verziere, small vegetable
garden or garden) recalls previous activities other than those of an
agri-food nature. Until 1882, the heart of civil and administrative life
in Varese was the Palazzo Pretorio in Piazza Podestà, a public space
which, expanded in 1599 with the demolition of some pre-existing
buildings, also housed the local prisons. From 1850 the civil heart of
the old village was connected through the "Mera arch" to the religious
center, dominated by the basilica of S. Vittore and the imposing bell
tower of Bernascone, behind which stands one of the oldest monumental
testimonies of the city, the baptistery of San Giovanni Battista.
At least until the mid-19th century, the historic center housed
several religious buildings. Piazza Carducci, with a layout unchanged
over time, in fact housed the church of Sant'Antonino belonging to the
convent of the same name wanted by San Carlo, as well as a small chapel
inserted in a Jesuit college that stood there in the eighteenth century.
Still today, however, the house of the Comolli nobles is still present,
since 1817 the seat of a "Casino", a meeting place for patriots and
elders of the village, which was repeatedly closed under Austrian
domination. The nearby square named after Cesare Beccaria, on the other
hand, houses a complex that was formerly part of the 13th-century
convent of the Umiliati, built on the northern side of via Vetera.
Opened in 1830-'32, the square also housed a "Casotto" where the
executioner kept the stage and the tools for the executions. The initial
hypothesis of erecting a monument to Sant'Arialdo, formerly a canon from
Varese and major protagonist of the so-called War of Priests which
involved the Milanese area in the 11th century, fell apart after the
lively local debate on the abolition of the death penalty in 1865, which
moved the decision to dedicate the new public space to the Milanese
jurist.
In the first half of the twentieth century, part of the
historic center of Varese was demolished to make room for
rationalist-style buildings. Thus it was that the old Piazza Porcari,
until the 1930s an important city crossroads and connection with Piazza
della Motta - already cited in the 12th century as the venue for the
weekly market and fair - gave way to the new volumes designed by
Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo and Mario Loreti. The creation of the current
Piazza Monte Grappa, designed to be the modern living room of Varese,
thus welcomed imposing architectural structures, testimony of that
monumentality and a certain rhetoric of the time. However, there are
some interesting ideas such as the Littoria Tower which, with its upward
thrust, increases the sense of space within the square, aiming to
interrupt the monotony of horizontal rhythms with an accentuated sense
of verticalism.
The Palazzo delle Poste by the architect Angiolo
Mazzoni should also be mentioned among the rationalist-style buildings.
Built in 1933, it is a stylistic compromise between the accentuated
monumentality of the facade, determined by the gigantic semi-columns on
which bronze sculptures stand out, and the greater modernity of the
remaining parts that are not in sight which highlight a language, on the
contrary, more sober and anti-rhetorical. The Palace of Justice,
designed in 1928 by the architect Morpurgo, the party headquarters such
as the Casa del Fascio (architect Loreti), the Casa del Balilla and the
Casa del Mutilato, now owned by the municipality with a hall used for
concerts and cultural events.
It is considered the noble hill of the city, formerly owned by the archbishop of Milan Ariberto da Intimiano, who in 1036 donated the entire property to the basilica of S. Vittore of Varese as a suffrage for his soul. The top of the hill is dominated by the church of S. Giorgio, a building dating back to the 12th century, while the underlying alleys lead to numerous private buildings, among which the Mozzoni villas (or "Casa delle Quaranta Colonne"), and Veratti stand out, known as St. Francis. Its origins date back to the 13th century, when the place was chosen by Franciscan friars to establish one of their first monasteries in Lombardy. The Villa Menafoglio Litta Panza villa, owned by Fondo Ambiente Italiano, and the complex of the Ponti villas (including the "Villa Napoleonica", "Villa Andrea Ponti" and the Sellerie) are also particularly relevant.
The district overlooks the historic center with the church of S. Martino, formerly belonging to the Benedictine monastery, then demolished with the restoration of the sanctuary in the 16th century. Going up towards the church of the Madonnina in Prato through via Dandolo, the first tree-lined public promenade donated to the city in 1816 by Count Vincenzo Dandolo, you reach the center of the castellanza. Of the original layout, a vast area dating back to the eighteenth century has been preserved which currently houses the civic high school of Varese. A short distance away stands Palazzo Orrigoni-Litta Modignani (now the parish oratory) built during the second half of the seventeenth century. Next to it is the twentieth-century church of SS. Peter and Paul, behind which there is a green area, evidence of a nineteenth-century private garden.
The Giubiano district is located less than a kilometer from the city centre. It is characterized by the presence of the hospital complex inserted in an important park, in the 18th century a vast estate with a villa belonging to one of the most prominent families in the village. The entire property, already linked to the old "Ospedale dei Poveri" at the time, was sold in 1885 to the famous tenor Francesco Tamagno, who began extensive renovation work on the building, accompanied by the total makeover of the garden. Upon his death in 1905, his daughter Margherita transferred the complex into the hands of the Congregation of Charity, which then used the villa to manage the hospital. The nucleus of the castellanza develops close to this vast complex, modified by successive urban transformations, but traceable around the current parish of S. Ambrogio, built at the beginning of the twentieth century to replace a previous ancient church from the thirteenth century.
It stands on a hill overlooking the historic center of the city on one side and the lake basin on the other. In the nucleus there is the ancient Romanesque church of Sant'Imerio (11th century) and at least two important manor houses: the "villa S. Pedrino", built in a panoramic position starting from the end of the 17th century by the noble Milanese family De Cristoforis, and "villa Visconti-Poggi-Esengrini", also known as "villa Montalbano" from the name of the hill on which it stands, between the church of S. Antonio abate alla Motta and piazza Buzzi.
It is the castellanza that acts as a link between the historic center and the areas that slope down towards the lake. Of this well-known district, it is worth mentioning the ancient fifteenth-century oratory of the "Schirannetta" and two imposing buildings, the former "Grand Hotel Excelsior" - formerly Villa Recalcati-Morosini and now the seat of the provincial offices and the Prefecture - and, on the the district of Masnago, the imposing hotel complex of the "Palace Grand Hotel". Commissioned to the architect Giuseppe Sommaruga (1867-1917), this luxurious liberty-style hotel built in the early twentieth century on the Campigli hill was reached from the current via Silvestro Sanvito by a funicular destroyed by the allied bombings of 30 April 1944, in direct realities on the facing buildings of the Macchi Air Force.
The municipal territory of Varese was divided into six districts,
participatory and consultation bodies which performed a function of
intermediary between the municipal administration and the citizens, each
of which had its own council. Following the abolition of this body,
decreed by law no. 42 of 26 March 2010, the subdivision of the city was
re-articulated into 9 district aggregations identified by a progressive
number and listed here, highlighting the former autonomous
municipalities and placing the ancient castles with their own parishes
in italics:
1: Varese Center, Lower Biumo, Bosto and Casbeno;
2: Capolago, Calcinate del Pesce and Schiranna;
3: Bobbiate, Lissago
and Cartabbia;
4: Sacro Monte, Sant'Ambrogio, Rasa, Fogliaro and
Bregazzana;
5: Velate, Avigno, Masnago and Calcinate degli Orrigoni;
6: Montello, Hippodrome, Biumo Superiore and Sangallo;
7: San Fermo,
Valle Olona and Belforte;
8: Bizzozero and San Carlo;
9: Giubiano
and Bustecche.
Important industrial center in Lombardy, in its hinterland there are
some important national and global companies.
Aermacchi (air
force and motorcycles)
Bticino (electrical equipment)
MV Agusta
(motorcycles)
Cagiva (motorcycles)
Ignis (later Whirlpool)
Prealps (butter and cheese)
Vodafone Automotive (automotive)
Varese is also renowned for the craftsmanship of wicker for the
production of baskets and baskets.
Streets
The municipality is crossed by the A8 Autostrada dei Laghi
(the first toll motorway in the world), of which it is one of the ends
together with Milan, and by a system of ring roads known as the Varese
ring road system.
The city is also served by state roads 233
Varesina, 341 Gallaratese, 342 Briantea, 344 Porto Ceresio and 394
Verbano Orientale, as well as provincial roads 1, 17, 36 and 62.
Railways and tramways
There are three railway stations in the city:
the Varese station, along the Milan-Varese-Porto Ceresio railway, the
Varese Nord station and the Varese Casbeno station, both located along
the Saronno-Varese-Laveno railway. Until 1966 the Como-Varese line also
operated by Ferrovienord which connected directly with Como Lago. From
07-01-2018 with the inauguration of the Arcisate-Stabio it became a
connection point between Bellinzona (Ch) and the airport of Malpensa.
The city also served as the terminus for an extensive urban and
suburban tramway network active in the first half of the twentieth
century, which included the following lines:
Valganna railway
Tramway Varese-Prima Cappella-Vellone
Varese-Masnago tramway
Varese-Bobbiate tramway
Varese-Azzate tramway
Tramway
Varese-Belforte
Tramway Varese–Bizzozero
Varese-Angera tramway,
active between 1914 and 1940, managed by the Società Anonima Tramvie
Orientali del Verbano (SATOV)
Urban mobility
Public transport
is operated by the Autolinee Varesine company on behalf of the Insubria
Public Transport Consortium, which manages the urban transport network
of Varese.
Intercity connections are also managed by the
companies GLC Giuliani & Laudi, Autolinee Castano, Autoservizi Morandi
and Ferrovie Nord Milano Autoservizi.
Ropeways
In Varese the
Vellone-Sacro Monte funicular operates, once accompanied by the other
two similar systems Vellone-Campo dei Fiori and the Kursaal.
At the end of the Second World War, between 1945 and 1951 the
municipal administration of Varese was governed by two left-wing juntas,
which was followed by a long hegemony of the Christian Democrats
(capable of expressing six consecutive mayors, until 1978 in
monochromatic juntas, then until 1990 with the support of PSI, PSDI and
PRI). This political phase was interrupted in 1992, in conjunction with
the Tangentopoli scandal, which led to the premature conclusion of the
mandates of the socialist Luciano Bronzi (supported by DC, PRI, PLI, FdV
and PdP) and of Angelo Monti (last Christian Democrat mayor of the city
, also supported by PDS and PSI).
After the commissioner mandate
of Umberto Calandrella, between 1993 and 1997 the administration of
Raimondo Fassa began 23 consecutive years of political management under
the Northern League, initially in alliance with the Republicans and with
the external support of the PDS, then from 1994 with an enlarged
coalition of various non-partisan exponents nicknamed men of good will.
In the following 19 years, the administrations of Aldo Fumagalli and
Attilio Fontana (interspersed with further commissioning entrusted to
Sergio Porena between 2005 and 2006), were instead supported by the
centre-right coalitions to which the Northern League had federated at a
national level, eventually with the addition of some civic lists.
This phase ended in 2016 with the election of PD exponent Davide
Galimberti, then reconfirmed in 2021 for a second term, in both cases
with the support of civic lists and other minor parties.
The sport that has given the most to the city of Varese has certainly
been basketball, with the two city representatives Pallacanestro Varese
and ABC Robur Varese. The first, since its foundation in 1945, has been
among the most titled teams in not only Italian but European history: 10
Italian championships, 5 European Cups, 2 Cup Winners' Cups and 3
Intercontinental Cups. During the sponsorship period, Ignis managed to
reach the European final ten consecutive times, then called the
Champions Cup, winning five, with a team that in 2016 was inducted into
the Italian basketball Hall of Fame. At the same time, during the 1970s,
the same team achieved six championships. In the 90s, after the
relegation to A2 in 1992, he managed to repeat the successes of the past
with the so-called "Scudetto della stella" in 1998/99, the tenth in the
history of the Varese team.
The names of great Italian and world
basketball players are linked to the history of Pallacanestro Varese,
also remembered in the team's Hall of Fame, founded in 2005, for which
the fans chose thirteen players and a coach based on the historical
period. Among these are: Tonino Zorzi, Tony Gennari, Paolo Vittori, Aza
Nikolić, Aldo Ossola, Bob Morse, Dino Meneghin, Manuel Raga, Charlie
Yelverton, Corny Thompson, Meo Sacchetti, Cecco Vescovi, Gianmarco
Pozzecco, Andrea Meneghin, Joe Isaac and Augustus Ossola
The city and province of Varese have a solid cycling tradition. In
fact, the 1951 and 2008 editions of the road cycling world championships
took place there; in 1971 the Luigi Ganna velodrome also hosted the
track cycling world championships. Varese had also been chosen as the
venue for the 1939 edition of the road world championships, which were
however canceled in the light of growing international tensions,
destined to end in the Second World War.
Varese has hosted a
stage finish of the Giro d'Italia twice:
On 10 June 1990 the 19th
stage of the LXXIII edition, an individual time trial, which ended at
the Sacro Monte di Varese with the victory of Gianni Bugno, who later
won that race.
On 26 May 2008 the 18th stage of the XCI edition ended
in front of Palazzo Estense with the victory of the German Jens Voigt.
The city also regularly hosts the arrival, departure or at least a
transit of the Tre Valli Varesine and has sometimes been included in the
route of the Giro di Lombardia.
The in-line hockey world championships were held in the city from 29 June to 11 July 2009, which saw as many as 41 teams participating in the tournament. All the competitions were held at the "Palalbani", the historic headquarters of the Mastini Hockey Varese. As regards ice hockey, the representative of the discipline is that of the Hockey Club Varese, the only Italian team to win a continental tournament.
In football, the city was represented by Varese: founded on 22 March
1910 with the name Varese Football Club, it has experienced various
transformations, terminations and corporate re-establishments over the
course of over a century of history.
From a sporting point of
view, Varese boasted seven participations in Serie A in a single group
as the most successful, with the best overall finish being seventh in
the 1967-1968 season. In addition, he had won three Serie B
championships, one Coppa Italia Serie C, one Coppa Italia Dilettanti and
had played in one Coppa Italia final.
After the bankruptcy and
radiation that occurred at the end of the 2018-2019 season, no subject
has formally taken charge of continuing the city's sporting tradition.
However, the foundation of a new club was recorded, completely different
from the previous ones (albeit with some ideal references), the City of
Varese, which after having played and won the group A of the Third
Category 2019-2020, in the 2020-2021 season has obtained, through the
acquisition of a third sports title, the right to participate in Serie
D.
In 2012 the sixth edition of the European Rowing Championships took
place on Lake Varese. In 2021, 2 events took place, the European Olympic
and Paralympic Qualification Regatta and following the Absolute European
Championships; while in June 2023 the second stage of the World Cup will
take place. The local team is Canottieri Varese.
Other city
representatives
Water polo team: Varese Olona Nuoto
Floorball
team: UHC Varese Wild Boars
American football team: Skorpions Varese
Curling team: HC Varese Curling
In the Masnago district are the Stadio Franco Ossola and the
Palasport Lino Oldrini, respectively the main outdoor and indoor arenas
of the city. The stadium hosts the internal matches of Varese and has a
velodrome, while the arena is the seat of the internal matches of
Pallacanestro Varese.
In the Bettole district there are the city
racecourse and the PalAlbani ice stadium, with adjoining swimming pool.
In the center of the city, on the southern edge of the Estensi
Gardens, stands the Fausto Fabiano municipal swimming pool, the main
swimming facility in Varese. Not far away, on the border with the
Casbeno district, is the XXV Aprile gym.