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 sanctuary in the comune

Comune

In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

of Serralunga di Crea

Serralunga di Crea

Serralunga di Crea is a comune in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 45 km east of Turin and about 35 km northwest of Alessandria....

, Piedmont

Piedmont

Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...

, northern Italy. It is reached via a steeply ascending route which winds through a wooded natural park, whose flora where catalogued by the Casalese

Casale Monferrato

Casale Monferrato, population 36,058, is a town and comune in the Piedmont region of north-west Italy, part of the province of Alessandria. It is situated about 60 km east of Turin on the right bank of the Po, where the river runs at the foot of the Montferrato hills. Beyond the river lies the...

 photographer and polymath Francesco Negri

Francesco Negri

Francesco Negri was an Italian photographer known not only as a pictorialist but for his innovative work in photomicroscopy and in the development of the telephoto lens, and for his early experiments in Louis Ducos du Hauron’s techniques of colour photography...

.

Construction began in 1589, around an existing sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin Mary whose creation is traditionally attributed to Saint Eusebius of Vercelli

Eusebius of Vercelli

Eusebius of Vercelli was a bishop and saint in Italy. Along with Athanasius, he affirmed the divinity of Jesus against Arianism.-Biography:...

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

The chapels dedicated to the Mysteries of the Rosary

Rosary

The rosary or "garland of roses" is a traditional Catholic devotion. The term denotes the prayer beads used to count the series of prayers that make up the rosary...

 were positioned around the one thousand year old Marian sanctuary

Sanctuary

A sanctuary is any place of safety. They may be categorized into human and non-human .- Religious sanctuary :A religious sanctuary can be a sacred place , or a consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.- Sanctuary as a sacred place :#Sanctuary as a sacred place:#:In...

 on the highest of the hills of Basso Monferrato . 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.

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.