Marble from the Falconera Cliff

One example of white marble from Valsesia, which was once quarried, was Civiasco marble, also known as Loreto marble. The quarry, situated in the hamlet of Loreto, near the present-day Ferrata della Falconera in Civiasco, in the municipality of Varallo, also belongs to the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola-Valle Sesia quarrying district; today, nothing remains of the old quarry except for a few scattered boulders.

Geologically, the quarried rock belongs to the Palaeozoic marble lenses of the Ivrea-Verbano Kinzigitic Complex. From a petrographic point of view, it is a coarse-grained calcitic marble, white or grey in colour, ranging from isotropic to slightly anisotropic, highly heteroblastic, with ferrous inclusions; it crumbles easily and is subject to significant fracturing and cracking when exposed to atmospheric agents and biological deterioration, leading to degradation of varying severity.

This marble was used in particular at the Sacro Monte di Varallo for the construction of flat cladding sections, laid in smooth, medium-sized slabs, for the creation of moulded elements (grooves in friezes, bases of pillars and columns, entablatures, etc.) and for fluted shafts made from mechanically worked blocks, with the working and finishing carried out using direct-percussion tools. Another interesting aspect is its use: it appears to have been employed both for structural purposes, such as columns and portals, and as a decorative element, carved in bas-relief, often featuring geometric or floral motifs. Examples of its use include the Scalone Santo, the steps, the columns, balustrades, decorative elements, the main entrance portal (known as the Porta Testori) of the Sacro Monte, certain columns, balustrades and decorations at the Collegiate Church of San Gaudenzio in Varallo, and numerous local applications in Valsesia.