If it's true that Biella has been long cut off the main tourist and business routes, it is also true that the story was different for what concerns the "paths of faith": the sanctuaries in the Alps around Biella, especially Oropa, have been very busy with pilgrims throughout the centuries and, still in these days, many people reach these holy places in pilgrimage.
Another sign of the deep devotion of this area is the quantity of chapels, votive pillars, frescoes with the black Virgin that one can see along footpaths and country roads.