This boat itinerary covers the Northern part of Lake Maggiore,
and ends in Locarno, Canton Ticino Switzerland, so, bring your passport with
you, as you will need it to cross the border between Italy and Switzerland.
This portion of boat trip takes about one hour forty five
minutes with the hydrofoil, and about three hours with the normal boat. With the low season
there are fewer boat runs than in the summer, the service is suspended during
some months, and certain stops are skipped
altogether, so check here the most recent schedule before going.
This is an itinerary you can easily cover in one day from
Milan, without needing the use of a car. You can easily reach Stresa from Milan in about one hour ten minutes
train ride, on the Trenitalia state railway company, along the Sempione (Simplon) line.
From Stresa the hydrofoil stops also in Baveno and Pallanza,
while the slow boat doesn't.
Porto Valtravaglia
The boat crosses the basin reaching Porto Valtravaglia on the
Lombardy side, in about twenty minutes, locality that inherited its name from the
surrounding territory, with summit in Germignaga, it stretches out to the west
to Castelveccana, to the south towards the mountains Cuvignone, Colonna, Nudo
and San Martino, and to the east towards the valley of the Margorabbia stream.
Tourist center with a small lake-front, Porto preserves in the area going
towards the mountains the Romanesque style arrocchiale dell'Assunta, later
adapted in the 16th cent., and the 17th Oratorio of San Rocco.
Arriving in this
locality, is visible on the right the promontory Rocca di Calde', so called
because of the ancient fortress that rises there that was restored by Ottone
Visconti, and then dismantled by the Swiss in 1513.
Departing once again from Porto Valtravaglia the boat
continues in the direction of Luino fronting the Piedmontse shore and the tiny
centers towns that comprise the commune of Oggebbio (Novaglio, Camogno, Gonte,
Barbe, where there is the 19th cent. villa of Massimo D'Azeglio, Piancavallo and
Resega) and you arrive after having doubled round Germignaga, industrial center
stretch froth on the lake and home of the Stehli silk mills.
Birthplace of Piero Chiara and frequently mentioned in
his novels, positioned at the mouth of the Valtravaglia and of the Tresa, in a
wide inlet of the high lake, Luino is a celebrated tourist spot.
Besides, favored by the confluence of communications networks
and by the proximity of the frontier mountains passes with Switzerland, it is
site of industrial and commercial activity of antique tradition.
While the old Borgo, of which there remain epoch buildings and narrow steep streets,
originated in the hinterland along the right bank of Tresa River, the most
recent development is the lake-front, where the 15th cent. Madonna del Carmine
rises, and the southern zone of the built up area.
In the central piazza Garibaldi, is the Monumento all'Eroe
(Monument to the Heroes) of 1867 by Alessandro Puttinati, to commemorate the
fight that occurred here between the Austrians and the 1500 volunteers led by
Garibaldi on August 14th ,1848.
Here, every Wednesday, you have the crowded famous market,
instituted with the special edict of the Emperor Charles the Fifth of the
Hapsburg in 1541 and considered the oldest market in Europe. Still fronting on
the lake is also piazza della Libertˆ, where Palazzo Crivelli Serbelloni rises,
planned by Carlo Felice Soave (today home of the Municipal) and surrounded by
other elegant 19th cent. buildings.
Cannero Riviera
The spectacular ruins of Cannero Castles are situated on two small rocky
islands in the middle of Lake Maggiore. They date back to the 12th-13th
centuries and were rebuilt in 1519-1521 upon orders from Ludovico Borromeo.
Cannero Riviera faces Luino, and takes its name from the
namesake stream at back of which there is Mt. Carza (116 meters). In front of
this popular tourist spot, emerge two rocky tiny islands with the suggestive
ruins of the celebrated Castelli di Cannero: all that remains of the
villa-castle Vitaliana that at the beginning of the 16th cent. Ludovico Borromeo
had built on the ruins of the old castles called Malpaga, belonging to the
Mazzarsiti, overbearing squires of the zone in the 14 - 15th cent. and
dismantled by Filippo Maria Visconti in the early years of the 15th cent.
Fron Locarno you can take a boat back to Stresa, or you can
get the Tilo train to Bellinzona, Chiasso and
then to Milan.
Coming from the North
From Bellinzona, on the Gottard line you can get the Tilo train to Locarno.
This same boat itinerary can be done backwards, starting from
Locarno and ending in Stresa.
This portion of boat trip takes about one hour forty five
minutes with the hydrofoil, and about three hours with the normal boat. With the low season
there are fewer boat runs than in the summer, the service is suspended during
some months, and certain stops are skipped
altogether, so check here the most recent schedule before going.
