The Sacred Mountain of Varallo (Italian: Sacro Monte di Varallo) is the oldest of the Italian and foreign constructions of its kind. It was founded in 1491, by friar Bernardino Caimi of the Ordine dei Minori Osservanti di San Francesco. The Sacro Monte was built on a rocky foundation, positioned on the slopes of Monte Tre Croci (Mount of three crosses), on the left-hand side of the river Sesia, where it leaves Val Mastallone (Piedmont, northern Italy).