Patron saint festival In 279 days
Feast of Santa Maria Maddalena
📅 Every year, on 22 July
On 22 July Ferrera di Varese, a municipality of 693 inhabitants in the province of Varese, celebrates its patroness Santa Maria Maddalena.
Until 1863 the village was called simply Ferrera; the specification was added later, to tell it apart from other places of the same name. Its boundaries, however, were far less stable than its name. In 1809 Ferrera was annexed to Cuvio; in 1812 it was detached from Cuvio and put together with Cassano, Masciago, Bedero and Brinzio into a single composite municipality named after Rancio; in 1816 the individual municipalities were restored. Three changes in seven years, all decided from above.
The numbers, too, say something: the registers give two hundred and nine inhabitants in 1751 and a hundred and seventy-nine in 1805, that is a village emptying out, while by 1853 there were already three hundred and eighty-eight. Ferrera stands on the hills north of Varese, on the road that climbs from the Valcuvia towards the Valganna, a few kilometres from the Swiss passes. Just below the old centre the Margorabbia torrent forms the Fermona waterfall, reached by leaving the village road near the church and descending a few dozen metres.
🎉 Festivals and feasts in Ferrera di Varese 1
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Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
Near Ferrera di Varese
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Places to see within 25 km
Outside Ferrera di Varese, but an easy day trip away.
chiesa dei Santi Filippo e Giacomo 📍 Luni · 400 m Rothari levelled the Byzantine chapel; in the eleventh century Nicola rebuilt on its highest point. santuario di Nostra Signora del Mirteto 📍 Luni · 1.1 km In 1537 a painting wept tears of blood: from that grew the sanctuary above Ortonovo. chiesa di San Lorenzo 📍 Luni · 1.3 km Built between 1621 and 1645 on the ruins of a castle, a perpetual abbey since 1714. chiesa di Santa Maria Maddalena 📍 Castelnuovo Magra · 2.5 km Three naves on eight columns of Carrara marble, under a portal carved in 1671. Palazzo Amati Ingolotti Cornelio 📍 Castelnuovo Magra · 2.5 km A marchese rebuilt it for his duchess wife; its sixteenth-century cellars now pour the local wine. Luna 📍 Luni · 2.9 km Rome's marble port: forum, theatre and an amphitheatre for 7,000, at the mouth of the Magra.