The Sacro Monte di Crea (literally "Sacred Mountain of Crea", although it is built on a hill rather than a mountain) is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

sanctuary in the ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' of

Serralunga di Crea Serralunga di Crea (Piedmontese: ''Seralonga 'd Crea'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about east of Turin and about northwest of Alessandria. It is most famous for the Sacro ...

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

, northern Italy. It is reached via a steeply ascending route which winds through a wooded natural park, whose flora was catalogued by the Casalese photographer and polymath Francesco Negri. It is one of the nine

Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy The (plural of , Italian for "Sacred Mountain") of Piedmont and Lombardy are a series of nine calvaries or groups of chapels and other architectural features created in northern Italy during the late sixteenth century and the seventeenth centu ...

, included in the

UNESCO World Heritage World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by int ...

list.

History

Construction began in 1589 around an existing sanctuary which is dedicated to the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

and whose creation is traditionally attributed to Saint

Eusebius of Vercelli Eusebius of Vercelli (c. 2 March 283 – 1 August 371) was a bishop from Sardinia and is counted a saint. Along with Athanasius, he affirmed the divinity of Jesus against Arianism. Biography Eusebius was born in Sardinia, in 283. After his father' ...

around 350 AD. Eusebius is also said to have installed the statue of the Madonna which is still venerated in the sanctuary. The

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

s dedicated to the Mysteries of the

Rosary The Rosary (; , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), formally known as the Psalter of Jesus and Mary (Latin: Psalterium Jesu et Mariae), also known as the Dominican Rosary (as distinct from other forms of rosary such as the ...

were positioned around the one-thousand-year-old Marian

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

on the highest of the hills of

Basso Monferrato Montferrat ( , ; ; , ; ) is a historical region of Piedmont, in northern Italy. It comprises roughly (and its extent has varied over time) the modern provinces of Alessandria and Asti. Montferrat is one of the most important wine district ...

. As time passed the initial scheme of the monumental layout was altered on a number of occasions and in 1820 significant restoration work began after its partial destruction.

The park

Since 1980, woods and some agricultural land surrounding the Sacro Monte have been preserved as the ''Parco naturale del Sacro Monte di Crea'', whose area is where visitors can admire some plant species no longer widely found elsewhere.Ministero dell'Ambiente e della Tutela del Territorio e del Mare, ''Elenco ufficiale delle aree protette (EUAP)'' - ''5º Aggiornamento approvato con Delibera della Conferenza Stato Regioni del 24 luglio 2003''; published on the ''Supplemento ordinario n. 144'' of the

Gazzetta Ufficiale The ''Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana'' () is the official journal of record of the Italian government. It is published by the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato in Rome. Function The ''Gazzetta Ufficiale'' promulgates acts ...

n. 205 of September 4th 2003.

References

External links

Sacro Monte di Crea

Official website

Official web site for European Sacred Mounts

MonferratoArte: Crea
from a historical and bibliographical directory of artists active in the extra-urban Churches of the Diocese of Casale Monferrato. World Heritage Sites in Italy Religious buildings and structures in the Province of Alessandria Crea {{Italy-struct-stub