The West Shore of Lake Orta - Lake Maggiore & Lake Orta Travel Guide
On a tour around Lake Orta, the quieter west shore, which sees fewer visitors, offers some wonderful views of the lake, with the island of San Giulio and the town of Orta San Giulio behind it.
On the western shore the main place is Pella, and along the road above the lake you will find Nonio and Césara.
Pella lies right on the lakeshore, on a delta built up by the two streams Pellèsino and Pellino, opposite Orta S. Giulio.
Settled as early as Roman times, the village is divided into a historic centre and a modern residential area with factories, mainly producing bathroom fittings and sanitaryware.
Alzo, which belongs to Pella, sits on the hillside and has open views of the lake and the mountains on the west and north shores.
Nonio was already mentioned in the Middle Ages, and its narrow lanes and old houses still make a charming impression today. The village is dominated by the parish church of S. Biagio, which has Romanesque origins and was remodelled in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Its paintings and frescoes from the 17th and 18th centuries and a fragment of a 15th-century fresco are well worth seeing.
Césara is a popular spa resort of around 1,000 inhabitants, set gently on the mountain slopes. The parish church of S. Clemente is late Romanesque, with Renaissance and Baroque alterations. Remains of 15th-century frescoes and a panel painting of St Clement from the school of Gaudenzio Ferrari can be seen. Close by stands the late Renaissance villa of Count Pellizzani, and old farmhouses line the streets leading off the town hall square.
From the forecourt of the pilgrimage church of Madonna del Sasso, which stands high on a rock (638 m) and is visible from afar, there is a magnificent panorama over the whole Lake Orta region. Directly opposite lie Orta and the island of S. Giulio, and the view takes in the whole of Lake Orta. The Baroque church was built on the site of an earlier chapel and completed in 1748. The gabled façade with its three-arched porch and freestanding bell tower form a very handsome ensemble. Inside, the church is decorated with late Baroque frescoes, and the marble-framed Pietà above the high altar is signed by Fermo Stella and dated 1547. Via the nearby village of Boleto, a popular spa resort with many old houses and villas, you can drive up to Monte Avigno (1,136 m), with a unique panoramic view over the Italian pre-Alpine lakes and the Swiss and Italian Alps.
A trip to the two Quarnas is especially rewarding. High above the lake lie Quarna Sotto at 809 m and Quarna Sopra at 866 m. Both are climatic health resorts with plenty to offer visitors, including hotels and restaurants.
The road to Cireggio, a village known as a summer retreat at 367 m, climbs in bold, steep hairpins up the Fiumetta valley to Quarna Sotto, with views of the Cusio mountains and Lake Orta along the way. Above the road stands the parish church of S. Nicola da Bari, begun in 1550 and remodelled several times, with a pulpit, marble altar and carved wooden doors from the first half of the 18th century. After about 1.5 km you reach Quarna Sopra, which lies on a plateau and is sheltered from the cold north wind by Monte Castellaccio. The village is grouped around the 16th-century parish church of S. Stefano, with its fine bell tower, precious marble altar, carved choir, pulpit and lovely 17th- and 18th-century paintings.
Quarna Sopra lies on the edge of a mountain spur with a unique panorama over the whole Lake Orta region. The whole of Lake Orta lies at your feet, Omegna sits in the valley below, with Mottarone (1,491 m) behind it, and to the south the mountains and their villages fade into the haze of the northern Italian plain.
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