Ghiffa - Lake Maggiore & Lake Orta Travel Guide

Ghiffa, with 2,500 inhabitants, is likewise characterised by elegant 19th-century villas, among them the villa of the Russian prince Pietro Troubetzkoy.

The manufacture of felt hats of every kind shaped the town's commercial and industrial development in the 19th century and right up to the present day, and the hatmakers of Ghiffa were world famous. Part of the former Panizza hat factory now houses a museum of hatmaking (Museo del Capello).

In Ghiffa, the pilgrimage church of the Holy Trinity, set a little above the district of Ronco, is especially worth a visit.

The picture on the right shows the view from Ronco di Ghiffa across Lake Maggiore to the eastern shore opposite.


The Sacro Monte della SS. Trinità di Ghiffa, with its pilgrimage church, three church-sized chapels and 17th-century Way of the Cross, lies in the middle of an extensive 200-hectare nature reserve (Riserva Naturale Speciale di SS. Trinità di Ghiffa).

This wooded nature reserve around the Sacro Monte is now used mainly for recreation, with hiking trails, a fitness trail and a restaurant.


The centre of Ghiffa, with the Municipio (town hall), lies on the lake, but numerous villas stand a little way up in the hills, as do the lovely old little villages of Frino and Deccio.

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