Historical Notes

Here, on the slopes of Mount Velate, behind Varese, according to tradition, Saint Ambrose defeated the Aryan heretics (fourth century) and ordered the construction of a chapel with an altar dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Victory, which was the origin of the current sanctuary mentioned for the first time in a document dated 922.
The archaeological ruins refer to a first building of worship dating back to the V-VI century, followed by early medieval (IX-X century) and Romanesque (XII century) interventions up to the renovation wanted by Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan (1472-1476). These renovations are clearly visible inside and were deeply modified in the Baroque period.  
The group of wooden sculptures of the Adoration of the Magi by Andrea da Saronno (1535) placed on the altar of the right aisle of the sanctuary is important evidence of sixteenth-century furniture.
It was the Capuchin father Giovan Battista Aguggiari who had the idea in the early seventeenth century to set up a journey on the mysteries of the Rosary in fifteen chapels. The idea was supported by Cardinal Federico Borromeo who gave accurate instructions on the decoration of the chapels.
The project was assigned to the architect Giuseppe Bernasconi from Varese. In 1623, there were already fourteen stations, mostly decorated. After a brief stop due to the plague narrated by Manzoni (1630-1632), the works were completed between the end of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth century.
In 1983, Monsignor Pasquale Macchi, already secretary of Pope Paul VI, ordered Renato Gottuso to paint the Flight into Egypt on the side of the third chapel.  

The Sacred Route - starting with the First Arch dedicated to the Virgin Mary and designed by Bernascone (first quarter of the seventeenth century) - includes fourteen chapels, placed along the cobbled path at regular intervals, corresponding to the time needed to recite a dozen Hail Marys.