An unique sideways chair swings open onto Lake Maggiore, with nothing between the seat and the air.
Madonna del Sasso
Sunlight finds the frescoes before it finds the square.
Madonna del Sasso stands on a rock outcrop above Locarno, 696 metres up, reached by a funicular that has run since 1906. The ride from the station takes four minutes and ends at the Santuario stop in Orselina. Walking takes longer: the Via Crucis climbs past small white chapels depicting the Passion, about twenty minutes on foot from the old town.
The sanctuary marks the spot where Fra Bartolomeo da Ivrea reported seeing the Virgin Mary on the night of 14 August 1480. The church that followed, consecrated in 1487, holds frescoes and canvases by Bramantino and Ciseri, restored in 2013. From the terrace beside it, Lake Maggiore opens out below, the town reduced to rooftops.
Most visitors take the funicular up. Walking down, past the chapels, gives the descent its own rhythm.