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This paper compares two of the most important Sacri Monti of the western Alps, Varallo and Oropa. The Sacro Monte of Varallo in the Valsesia (originally a terra separata of the Duchy of Milan, after 1707 ruled by the House of Savoy), was conceived by the Franciscan Bernardino Caimi at the end of the XVth century as a precise replica of the Holy Places in Jerusalem ; subsequently a sequence of chapels was added to it, representing the life and Passion of Jesus Christ. During the Counter-Reformation this system of chapels became the prototype for all the other Sacri Monti that were founded in the region, including Oropa. The origin of the sanctuary at Oropa is completely different from that of Varallo : from the XIIth century it was the centre of a cult surrounding an image of a "Black Madonna". In the XVIth century control of the shrine was contested by the canons and city of Biella. The dukes of Savoy took advantage of this dispute to impose their protection - or rather control - over the shrine in 1644, turning it into the chosen sanctuary of the Savoyard sovereigns, the symbol of their piety and the greatness of their dynasty.
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