Santa Maria delle Grazie, Varallo

The Church of Our Lady of the Graces (Italian Santa Maria delle Grazie) is a Gothic-style, Roman Catholic temple in Varallo Sesia, province of Vercelli, region of Piedmont, Italy. The church was built, together with the adjacent Franciscan convent, by padre Bernardo Caimi between 1486 and 1493. At this time, the construction of the Sacro Monte was also beginning. In December 1931, Pope Pius XI gave the church the title of Minor Basilica.

The interior is subdivided into spaces for the general public and for the friars, separated by a partition wall (tramezzo), supported by three round arches. The central arch opens to a hall reserved for friars, while the two lateral arches lead to two chapels. The fresco cycle scheme of the wall is traditionally attributed to Bernardino of Siena, and painted in 1531 by Gaudenzio Ferrari.

Similar decorative structures, with a partition wall entirely decorated with frescos of the Life of Jesus, were typical of the religious and artistic culture of the Friars Minor in Piedmont and Lombardy between XV and XVI century.

By the end of the 15th century, the Franciscan convent was much larger than today. The ancient building consisted of two cloisters, the friars' cells, a refectory, a library and kitchens. The monks vacated the convent by the early 20th century, and restorations began. From 1953 the complex host the nuns Suore Missionarie di Gesù Eterno Sacerdote.

As common for franciscan churches, the bare façade does not hint at the rich fresco decoration inside. In the cosy atmosphere of the church, with the gothic arches sustaining the ceiling trusses, the wall of frescoes by Gaudenzio Ferrari are one of the masterpieces in the Renaissance painting in Piedmont and Lombardy. They depict Life and Passion of Jesus Christ on a surface of 82 m²: twenty equal frames narrate the main facts told by the gospels from the Annunciation to the Resurrection, working as Biblia pauperum. In the center, the Crucifixion, as the most important narrative scene, occupies four frames.

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