Angera - Lake Maggiore & Lake Orta Travel Guide
Angera lies on a small bay opposite Arona, at the narrowest point of Lake Maggiore, only two kilometres wide, and is overlooked by a hill crowned by the old mountain fortress "Rocca di Angera". Even in Roman times the fortified port of Vicus Sebuinus had an urban character, as the remains of a Mithraic shrine and a Roman cemetery show. These finds are now displayed in the Archaeological Museum in the Palazzo Pretoria. During the Lombard period and under Frankish rule, too, Angera was the seat of a duchy and a county respectively. Under the Saxon emperors, Angera passed to the Archbishops of Milan.
On the Lungolago, the attractive lakeside promenade lined with a double row of large horse chestnuts, stands the early Baroque church of Madonna di Riva, with paintings by Camillo Procaccini (1551-1629) and Morazzone inside. The church as it stands today is only the choir of a project that was planned on a truly gigantic scale but never built. On the central Piazza Parrocchiale stands the 13th-century parish church of San Alessandro, which was given a Baroque makeover. Beside the baptismal font are two late antique sculptures.
Angera's greatest attraction is undoubtedly the Rocca d'Angera, a fortress that grew over several building phases around an inner courtyard and still belongs to the princely Borromeo family. Built over earlier predecessors, this High Medieval hilltop castle of the Archbishops of Milan was for many years a bone of contention between them and the Torriani family, and fell increasingly into disrepair. After the Visconti acquired it in 1277, it was rebuilt in 1317-1322 and extended by another wing around 1350. In 1449 the Borromeo, as vassals of the Sforza, acquired the castle.
In the Borromeo wing, flanked by the south-west and south-east towers, a loggia opens onto the inner courtyard, the Cortile Nobile. Several Roman votive altars are displayed here. On the Piano Nobile, the Hall of Arms and other rooms used as a picture gallery offer fine views through their lakeside windows. Of particular note are the frescoes by Michelino da Besozzo (c. 1388-1442) and other artists of his time, which originally adorned the Borromeo family's town palace in Milan, as well as a Baroque fireplace made of Angera stone.
In the west-facing Visconti wing, the ground floor houses the "Museo della Bambola", one of the most important doll museums in Europe, with dolls from the 18th to the 20th century. Above it is the so-called courtroom (Sala della Giustizia), a hall still decorated with its original frescoes. The frescoes depict the heroic saga of Ottone Visconti, shown in bishop's robes on horseback receiving the submission of Napo, the defeated head of the rival Torriani family. In another picture, Torriani and his family members are led away into captivity. In the background you can see the castle of Como, where Napo Torriani died of hunger and torture. In the lunette beside it, the sun appears on a red quadriga, behind which the smaller moon drives a two-horse chariot. Both the overall scheme and the individual compositions are regarded as outstanding masterpieces of 14th-century Lombard art.
On one of the upper floors of the 30 m high Castellana Tower between the Visconti and Scaliger wings, you can see a Renaissance fireplace of Moltrasio stone with wooden coats of arms of the Borromeo, Vitaliani and Avese families. The Castellana Tower offers wide views, taking in the Sacro Monte near Varese and the whole castle complex with its battlemented ring of walls. Hardly anything survives inside the Scaliger wing; the east wing was always the service wing of the fortress, where you can marvel at a huge wine press.
From Angera it is worth making a short detour to Ranco (1,000 inhabitants) by staying on the small lakeside road. In Ranco, the Villa Fantasia houses a museum of transport history well worth a visit, which vividly traces the history of transport from the stagecoach through trains, cable cars and motorbikes to carriages of the Milan metro.
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