Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
style. Via Branda leads from the central square up to the
Collegiata
(
www.museocollegiata.it
; Via
Cardinal Branda 1; admission €6.50; 10am-1pm & 3-6pm Tue-Sun Apr-Oct, 9.30am-12.30pm & 2.30-5.30pm Tue-
Sat & 10am-1pm & 3-6pm Sun Nov-Mar, 10am-6pm 1st Sun of every month)
, a church that contains the
town's masterpiece. Inside its baptistery, Florentine master Masolino da Panicale carried
out a series of frescoes on the life of St John the Baptist in 1435.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Castelseprio & Torba
Spread out in peaceful woods about 1.5km outside the village of Castelseprio, around
20km south of Varese, is the ancient archaeological site of
Sibrium
, a Lombard castrum
(fortified settlement) with remains of fortress walls, various churches and towers. As long
ago as the 5th or 6th century AD, the Lombards began erecting a fort on this site. By the
7th century it was a small town, with its Basilica di San Giovanni, houses and
watchtowers.
Four kilometres away by road, but a short walk from the
Parco Archeologico di Castelseprio
(
0331 82 04 38; Via Castelvecchio 1513; 8.30am-7.20pm Tue-Sat, 9.30am-6.20pm Sun & holidays Feb-Nov,
shorter hrs Nov-Jan)
is the
Monastero di Torba
( 0331 82 03 01;
www.fondoambiente.it
; adult/child €5/
2.50; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun Mar-Sep, to 5pm Wed-Sun Oct, Nov & 2nd half of Feb, closed Dec & Jan)
, which
started life as a forward watchtower for the castrum (it was the only one to remain intact).
It was then turned into the centrepiece of a Benedictine convent and adorned with rare
frescoes. A short walk west from the Monastero di Torba is the
Antiquarium
(
2.45-5.15pm
Sun & holidays)
, a small repository of objects and documents on the site.
To get to the archaeological park take a leafy 1.5km drive from Castelseprio village.
The church is 200m from the parking area and information office. Torba is about a 1.5km
drive northeast from the village.
Outside the village walls is the small pre-Romanesque
Chiesa di Santa Maria Foris Portas
(Holy Mary Outside the Gates; Castelseprio; 8.30am-2.30pm & 5.30-7pm Sat, 9.45am-2.30pm & 5.30-6pm Sun &
holidays)
, which was built around the 7th century. Inside in the apse are some re-
markable frescoes depicting scenes from the infancy of Jesus Christ and dominated by an
image of Christ Pantocrator. Art historians tend to think these were painted in Lombard
times but some believe they are from the Carolingian period (8th or 9th century). Either
way, they are a rare and vivid example of pre-Romanesque artistic beauty. The realism,
