The very large square was a cloister before, and the religious complex included the gotic bell-tower you see on my photo, baptistery (maybe, the oldest building of the town, because it's from the XI century) and other buildings. I imagine that it was a territory completly dedicated to the religious and pilgrims. Some streets stil remember their original functions, like the Capuchin Uphill. Probably the monks had to reach the sanctuary of Oropa.
Very interesting is the internal ornament of the Dom. Honestly, I've never seen anything similar before.
All the walls seem to be made from marbles etc and to have many statues. But they are painted! The tecnic is trompe l'oeil, optical illusion. And the colors are green-grey.
This work was created in 1784 by Giovannino Galliari and C°.
To see the battistery, you need to go behind the Dom. Curious is that the bas-relief over the door represents Hercules and is roman, from the II century.
I like to walk in the streets of the old town. Greenery and decorations make this walk very nice. There are many flowers in the squares. So, if you come here to visit the sanctuaries or parks or to enjoy trekking or climbing, you will find this town very relaxing.
There are different sanctuaries not too far from the town. I just visited one of them and some lakes situated not far from Oropa sanctuary. You can reach Oropa from Biella in 4 hours by feet, I think, but there is a bus, too.
I'll describe my walk in my next post.
There are cheap places to go in vacation in the north of Italy, too. You can control the real time accomodation offers if you visit this page:
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