The patron saint of Varese Ligure is Saint John the Baptist, celebrated on 24 June. The parish church dedicated to him, built around the mid-17th century, holds paintings and sculptures by Luigi Sciallero, Giovanni Andrea De Ferrari, Gregorio De Ferrari and Anton Maria Maragliano.
The town is famous for its «Borgo Rotondo», built by the Fieschi feudal lords in medieval times for the control and defence of the territory: a row of identical stone houses arranged along a circular perimeter enclosing the squares of Piazza Fieschi and Piazza Castello, with porticoes once occupied by shops and warehouses. The Fieschi castle, built in the 12th century in opposition to the Pinelli family, was besieged in 1435 by the condottiero Niccolò Piccinino; recaptured through a stratagem by Gian Luigi Fieschi, it was eventually demolished on his own orders in 1492, who used part of its materials to build the houses of the Borgo Rotondo. Some ruins of the stronghold are still visible, including the towers known as "del Piccinino", from 1435, and "di Manfredo Landi", from 1472, donated to the municipality in 2016 and now used for events and exhibitions.
