The Rocca Borromea of Arona is a defensive construction overlooking Lake Maggiore, located on a hill that, due to its strategic position, has been frequented since prehistoric times and is now a public park.

Two castles in one of Italy's most beautiful villages. The Visconti Castle dominates the village of Vogogna and was incorporated into the system of perimeter walls that enclosed it. In 1798 it became the property of the municipality, which used it as a prison. Restoration work began in 1990. Today, the castle houses museum spaces dedicated to medieval archaeology and other thematic exhibitions.

The Castles of Cannero, territorially part of the municipality of Cannobio, emerge from the water on two small islands not far from the shore of Cannero, from where they can be seen as romantic ruins. Recovered by the Borromeo family with a skilful restoration that lasted 10 years and was completed in 2025, they now offer an immersive museum that tells their story.

Symbol of the proud independence of Riviera di San Giulio. The Buccione Tower or Castle stands on the hill of the same name overlooking Lake Orta in a splendid panoramic position.

Overlooking the promontory jutting out into Lake Orta, where vegetation alternates with spectacular lake views, the path of the Sacro Monte winds through an environment that is sometimes garden, sometimes woodland, among the twenty chapels inside which the episodes of the life of Saint Francis are illustrated with sculptures and paintings in analogy with the life of Jesus. To find out more, listen to our podcast!

“SOUL GARDENS: Ville e giardini, paesaggi dell’anima per il turismo sostenibile e consapevole” è un progetto per la promozione e la commercializzazione dei prodotti turistici regionali ai sensi della L.R. n. 14/2016, art. 21 - Annualità 2024/2025 - Ambito Territoriale 4

The Alpinia Botanical Garden, which extends over approximately four hectares, is located on the slopes of Mount Mottarone, a pre-Alpine relief wedged between Lake Maggiore (Verbano) and Lake Orta (Cusio). To find out more, listen to our podcast!

“SOUL GARDENS: Ville e giardini, paesaggi dell’anima per il turismo sostenibile e consapevole” è un progetto per la promozione e la commercializzazione dei prodotti turistici regionali ai sensi della L.R. n. 14/2016, art. 21 - Annualità 2024/2025 - Ambito Territoriale 4

Surrounded by the Ossola Alps and typical villages with slopes still cultivated with ancient vines, a short distance from Switzerland, the Sacro Monte winds from the village of Domodossola to the hill of Mattarella, a place with very ancient origins whose history is testified by Roman and Lombard finds of building materials, ceramics and tools and by a marble tombstone from 539 AD, reused in the curtain of the medieval castle, destroyed in 1415 by the Swiss. To find out more, listen to our podcast!

“SOUL GARDENS: Ville e giardini, paesaggi dell’anima per il turismo sostenibile e consapevole” è un progetto per la promozione e la commercializzazione dei prodotti turistici regionali ai sensi della L.R. n. 14/2016, art. 21 - Annualità 2024/2025 - Ambito Territoriale 4

In spring, summer and autumn, extraordinary splashes of colour transform the Gardens of Villa Taranto into the floral attraction par excellence of Lake Maggiore. In the 16-hectare park there are 20,000 plants of particular botanical value and over 80,000 flowering bulbs, while over 15,000 are the border plants that carpet the numerous flowerbeds. To find out more, listen to our podcast!

“SOUL GARDENS: Ville e giardini, paesaggi dell’anima per il turismo sostenibile e consapevole” è un progetto per la promozione e la commercializzazione dei prodotti turistici regionali ai sensi della L.R. n. 14/2016, art. 21 - Annualità 2024/2025 - Ambito Territoriale 4

An old Franciscan church has been converted into three exhibition levels. The ground floor, also used for temporary exhibitions, has a large nave and two aisles separated by columns with sculpted capitals and frescoed bays. The first floor houses the Museum of Natural Sciences, with a selection of stuffed animals, a collection of minerals, an accurate stratigraphy of the Simplon region, a botany section, entomology, malacology, comparative anatomy, and some interesting organic finds. The second floor has been designed as a space to come into contact with art in its most intimate forms.  In the archaeological area, you can admire artefacts from different periods and cultures, from ancient Egypt, prehistory, Lepontian, and Roman times. Liturgical furnishings, stained glass, carvings, and polychrome wooden and stone sculptures from the Church of San Francesco represent sacred art. In the picture gallery, with paintings and drawings from the late 16th to the 20th century, there are several works by artists from the Vigezzo Valley, the "Valley of the Painters."

It is an interactive, living, and accessible museum where new models of education and dissemination of intangible heritage can be experimented with, following in the enchanted footsteps of Gianni Rodari.