Orta and the Island of San Giulio - Lake Maggiore & Lake Orta Travel Guide
The most interesting town on Lake Orta is Orta (1,400 inhab.) with its Sacro Monte and the island of San Giulio. Orta lies on a long peninsula that reaches far out into the lake, with the island of San Giulio directly offshore.
The town is car-free, so visitors must park outside it in large car parks. From there you walk down and through narrow lanes paved with cobblestones, lined with tall Baroque houses that often have lovely courtyards and arcades.
Suddenly the large central square, Piazza Mario Motta, opens out before you.
On the edge of this impressive 16th-century ensemble stands the free-standing Palazzo della Communità, the former town hall, a Renaissance building from 1583 with an open loggia and faded frescoes on its outer walls.
The square is surrounded by numerous inns, restaurants and cafés.
To the west, Piazza Mario Motta opens onto the lake and offers one of the finest views of the island of San Giulio and the opposite shore of the lake. The boats to San Giulio leave from here.
The little island of San Giulio is almost entirely built up. It is the religious heart of the Cusio area and has always been a destination for travellers heading south and for pilgrims.
The island's skyline is dominated by the former bishop's palace, which now serves as a seminary.
The Basilica di San Giulio is said to go back to the Greek Julius, who is supposed to have rid the island of dragons and snakes in the 4th century. In the crypt, Julius rests in a glass coffin wearing a gold mask.
In its present form the church is a Romanesque basilica with fairly lavish Baroque furnishings.
In front of the rood screen stands a magnificent Romanesque pulpit of black marble from the 11th century. This work, unique in northern Italy as a testament to Romanesque art, is richly decorated with reliefs: fighting mythical beasts, eagles, saints and more.
The Sacro Monte (Holy Mountain) of Orta has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 3 July 2003. The Sacro Monte d'Orta is laid out as a devotional trail in a wonderful panoramic setting, with 20 chapels, each decorated with frescoes and life-size terracotta statues depicting the life of St Francis of Assisi.
The Sacro Monte occupies part of the range of hills that closes off the Orta peninsula to the east. It lies at a mean height of about 400 m above sea level and about 100 m above the lake and the town centre.
Construction of the chapels and the monastery began in 1590/91 in the presence of the Prince-Bishop of Novara, and by the late 17th century nearly all the chapels were complete. In all, the Sacro Monte consists of 20 chapels, plus the Capuchin monastery, also built at the end of the 16th century, and the Church of St Nicholas, which was remodelled at the same time. As a whole the Sacro Monte has a Renaissance character, even though a few chapels adopt Baroque forms in a restrained way.
Leading sculptors and painters of their day took part in building and decorating the individual chapels, and the Sacro Monte of Orta is also an important record of local craftsmanship (doors, wrought-iron grilles and so on). It is comparable only with the Sacro Monte of Varese or the Sacro Monte of Varallo.
Much of the magic of the Sacro Monte d'Orta comes from nature: the chapels blend harmoniously into the surrounding woodland, and in several places there are viewpoints of unique beauty over the lake and the island of San Giulio just offshore.
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