Borgo di Orta San Giulio: here’s everything you don’t know

The small village of Orta San Giulio, you may find it hard to believe, but it is listed among the most beautiful villages in Italy. It may be thanks to the nearby San Giulio Island, or perhaps it will simply be thanks to the shimmering water mirror of Lake Orta, but the fact is that this small village is experienced a bit like the keeper of chests full of artistic treasures and aesthetic. Trying to discover them, little by little, by navigating among these wonders that we will see listed shortly, really is priceless. So here are the best places to see in the beautiful Orta San Giulio. 

DISCOVERING THE VILLAGE OF ORTA SAN GIULIO BETWEEN MYTHS AND REALITY

If you start walking around the village, your attention will easily fall on some characteristic elements typical of the village. In fact, think of the lakefront of Orta San Giulio in Piazza Motta, and then again of the Salita della Motta in the Church of Santa Maria Assunta. All without forgetting the Community of the Riviera: everything there is to admire in the small and prestigious village of Orta San Giulio. In short, there are many discoveries that you can make on site. 

THE LAKE LAKE AND ITS WONDERS

You meet it coming from Gozzano, and it turns out to be full of nineteenth-century neoclassical style houses, with their gardens full of azaleas and camellias in bloom. The village welcomes you, with seventeenth-century and eighteenth-century buildings, cloaked in ancient elegance, with arcades opening onto very green gardens, which slope down to the shining waters of the lake … 

WALK BETWEEN PIAZZA MOTTA AND THE RIVIERA COMMUNITY

Although closed on three sides by some arcades, cafes, shops and shops, Piazza Motta overlooks the blue of the lake. Not for nothing is it considered the ideal place from which to admire the view of the island of San Giulio, before enjoying the our public navigation service, to reach the shores of the island. 

The Riviera Community Palace (dated 1582) captures the attention. Known as “il Palazzotto”, it was for a long time the seat of the General Council of the Community of the small Republic of the Riviera d’Orta. A very particular case among the fiefs of the bishop of Novara, Orta San Giulio was able to enjoy its own statutes, as if it were a sort of autonomous state, in the long period that went from 1345 to 1753. 

VIA OLINA: THAT’S WHY SEE IT

Finally, you shouldn’t forget to visit Via Olina, where you meet Casa Olina, the hospital from 1602 and, at the intersection with a small slope, Casa Monti Caldara (17th century) with beautiful wrought iron balconies, an element present in many houses in the village.