LAKE MAGGIORE

Departing once again from Porto Valtravaglia the boat continues in the direction of Luino fronting the Piemontese 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. Luino, 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, it 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.