Pettenasco - Lake Maggiore & Lake Orta Travel Guide
Pettenasco, with about 1,200 inhabitants, lies on a fertile plain on the delta of the Pescone stream and is dominated by a large railway viaduct. From here there is a lovely view over the middle and northern basin of Lake Orta and the high mountains to the west.
Tourism has now reached Pettenasco, with hotels, restaurants, a campsite and a pleasant beach, but the quiet beauty of the region can still be seen in Crabbia and Pratolungo, which belong to Pettenasco.
Pettenasco was already settled by Ligurians, Celts and Romans, and the imperial governor of the area is also said to have resided here in the late imperial period. Pettenasco is first mentioned in documents of the year 892.
The parish church of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria stands directly on the lakeside road. It was built in 1778 and grew out of a 12th-century chapel. The bell tower on the façade dates from 1792, but a few traces of the Romanesque period can still be discovered today.
An "Adoration of the Shepherds" is attributed to the artist Cesare Procaccini.
A little way inland in the hills lie the villages of Pratolungo and Crabbia, which belong to Pettenasco.
Crabbia lies at 356 m and is an old village settlement at the foot of the Motta di Crabbia. Many houses still show their medieval layout and cluster, together with a few villas, around the Oratorio di S. Anna e S. Martino.
The railway station of Pettenasco is nearby, and in about an hour you can climb to the summit of the Motta di Crabbia (639 m) and be rewarded with a magnificent distant view.
Pratolungo lies about one kilometre from Pettenasco in a magnificent position in the hills (390 m), amid meadows and woods on the slopes of the Motta di Crabbia.
At the end of an avenue of sweet chestnut trees many centuries old stands the little Baroque church of Madonna della Neve (Our Lady of the Snows), with rich stucco decoration and frescoes.
In the centre of the village, with its many old houses, stands the charming little late-Renaissance church of S. Grato, with a porch roof supported by four columns. In the simple nave there is an altarpiece showing St Gratus.
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