Val Verzasca - Lake Maggiore & Lake Orta Travel Guide

Together with the Centovalli and Vallemaggia, the Val Verzasca is the best-known of the Ticino valleys.

The wild mountain valley of the Verzasca, with its ancient villages, tells the story of Ticino: the men left as seasonal workers for the industrial centres of northern Italy or central Europe, while the women did backbreaking work at home in the fields and meadows and at the household loom.

Waves of emigration, above all in the 19th century, depopulated the valley, which is only now being repopulated again, by the owners of second homes.



Driving into the Val Verzasca, the first thing you notice is the gigantic dam of the hydroelectric power station, which is 380 m long and 220 m high, making it one of the tallest in Europe.

As well as a stroll along the dam wall, there is bungee jumping into the depths for the particularly daring. Since 2007, the jumping facility on the Verzasca dam has also offered the highest pendulum swings in the world (220 m).

Photo: www.fischeradventures.ch

The Val Verzasca offers even more unusual sporting opportunities. The Verzasca, a mountain river known for its emerald-green water and considered one of the most beautiful rivers in Europe, also has several beautiful dive sites for divers.

Vogorno is the main village of the valley, with many restored rustici and views of the emerald-green water of the reservoir.


The best-known village in the Val Verzasca is Corippo, built steeply into the hillside and a protected monument since 1975. A little further up the valley, the stone arch bridge Ponte dei Saltri catches the eye. It is not a Roman bridge but was built up in the Middle Ages and has been repeatedly renewed, its elegant arches carrying a path over the green water of the wild Verzasca.

The Sentierone, the footpath winding along the river, becomes a modern art trail here, with numerous works that seek to connect art and nature.

In Brione stands the valley's art-historical gem: the parish church of Santa Maria Assunta, with fairly well preserved 14th-century frescoes in the style of Giotto, painted by the Giotto pupil Giovanni Baronzio. The church's famous carved altar by Matthias Müller of Lindau, dating from 1502, now stands in the Swiss National Museum in Zurich.

The last village in the valley, Sonogno, with its compact townscape, only comes to life in summer. The Museo di Val Verzasca in the Casa Genardini, an old farmhouse, brings the history and life of the valley's people vividly to life.

The classic children's book "The Black Brothers" (Die schwarzen Brüder) by Lisa Tetzner (1894-1963), who lived in Ticino with her husband after emigrating in 1933, tells the moving story of the children from the Val Verzasca who were sold to Milan in the 19th century as chimney sweeps, effectively as living brushes. It is an exciting book for children and young people and at the same time a timeless appeal against child labour and exploitation.

Video: Valle Verzasca - Ponte dei Salti a Lavertezzo (Ticino/Tessin)
with kind permission of TICINUS MEDIA (https://www.youtube.com/user/ticinus)

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