Tipi Percorsi
A horse-drawn ring between the high and the low Formazza valley, will be an opportunity to fully immerse themselves in the suggestive discourses that welcomed the walsers when they arrived from the nearby Canton Valais (CH) in search of new pastures. A leap in the past, exploring one of the most suggestive waterfalls of Europe chastened into one of the least known valleys of Italy.
Attention : The path is only partly walkable with the bike trailer for children. In the stretch between the locations "Ponte" and "Under Frua" it is necessary to use the carrable road if you want to opt out of this solution. Even for all those who are not familiar with the MTB, it is ill-advised to move from the cycling between the two traits above, because the ramping up of the ramps and the close back could create difficulties.
What to see, Formazza-the Fracks
All rich in history and charm, take the time to explore the typical walser dwellings immersed in the greenery of the meadows and rich in colors in each season.
Antillone [ Puneiga ], fraction no longer inhabited, is a destination of walks to reach the nearby Alpeans of Vova and Salecchio.
Brendo [ In Dä Brendu ], "in the woods downed with the fire", is a tiny agglomeration of houses collected around the Chiesetta of the Madonna del Carmine. From here, the Valley shrinks and is steeped in steep. In the vicinity lies the Central Giacinto Motta that exploits the hydroelectric basins of Morasco, Vannino, Sruer, Toggia and Kastel for the production of Energy Electricity.
Canza [ Früduwald ] and Grovella [ Gurfalu ], "woods of the waterfall" and "area of the boulders". They are two fractions between them close to where numerous ancient dwellings in larice built by the Walsers are counted. In Canza L' abate was partially destroyed by an avalanche in 1951 that caused numerous casualties.
Church [ in der mattu ], "located between the meadows", is the seat of the Formazza Parish. The fraction is made up of a small agglomeration of houses that gathers around the Saints Bernardo and Carlo's Parrochial. In the fraction is also the ancient Walser Cemetery with the wooden crosses, equal for each deceased.
Fondovalle [ Schtafulwald ], "court for the cattle surrounded by the woods", or "forest of the enclosure," is the first village adagiarised on the afflicted plain on the "Casse" cliff. Originally the village was wooden but it was destroyed by an immense avalanche in 1863 and rebuilt in masonry.
Foppiano [ Undrum Stalda ], is the first of the Valley and is inhabited all year round. Within the fraction there is the Oratorio dedicated to St. John and typical wooden constructions.
Frua [ Uf Der Frütt ], location famous for winter tourism and for the Cascade del Toce.
Ponte [ Zumschtäg ], is the heart of the Valley and home to City Hall. The name of the Fration refers to the presence of the only bridge on the River Toce. In Fraction there is also a school for the children of the elementary school where the old Walser dialect is still learned. At the end of the country, towards the Brendo fraction, lies the oldest formaze house, the Casa Forte, ancient home of the amhand, the head of the walser colony. Here, too, there is a dedicated Oratorio in Santa Caterina. Inaugurated on November 25, 1661, the church was expanded in 1884. The last renovation dates back to 1986-1987.
San Michele [ Tuffald ], "deep woods," the woods close to the fraction were devastated by a large fire in 1765. The landscaper is home to an Fund Sci Centre, with a 12 km runway ring that runs all the flat part of the Valley, from Ponte to Fondovalle. At the location are also two religious buildings : Church of St. Michael and St. Lucia built in 1663.
Under Frua [ Unter Der Frütt ], "under the Cascade" of the Toce. There is a cloth and two large structures predominantly used by the Salesians for summer gatherings and various gatherings.
Valdo (Wald), "woods", ancient home of the Municipality of Formazza now moved to Ponte. In The Fraction is present the chairlift of the Sagersboden that leads to the top of the Pista of the Campions so defined for its beauty and typology.
Focus, the Walsers
The Walsers (contraction of the German Walliser, i.e., vallese, inhabitant of canton Valais) are a population of Germanic origin that inhabits the alpine regions around the Mount Rosa Massive. Whose language is defined as Titsch, Töitschu or Titzschu, terms related to German Deutsch.
Established in the Valley of the Goms, during the centuries XII and XIII, Walser settlers from the high Valais settled in different locations of the Alpine arch in Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria and France. The history of the Walser people in the south of the alps begins in the middle of the thirteenth century, for progressive migrations, developing over time the allocated settlements that we know today.
Their peculiarity was that of having given birth to a model of colonizing high quotas occupying and transforming abandoned alpeses. The Val Formazza represented the entrance door of the Walsers, from here they transitioned and colonized the Alpine arch on the Italian side, whose first stable settlements stood beyond the 1,800 mt.s.l.m. Their peculiarity was that they gave birth to a model of colonizing the high stakes by occupying and transforming abandoned alpeses, valleys and spoiled mountains with permanent settlements.
Focus, Sbrinz Route
All years in late August, for more information www.sbrinz-route.ch
Historical resuming in costume of the journey that unites Bern to Domodossola, a walk in multiple stages during which the journey is relocated to the teaching of tradition. A great way of communication that already 600 years ago, through the Gries Pass, at 2479 m of the quota between the Val Formazza and the Upper Valais, constituted the most direct route between the Lombard Plain and central Switzerland. From Milan to Bern, from the Mediterranean to the plains of Central Europe, they transitioned men, goods, ideas. It was a commercial street, a caravaniera traveled from long rows of mule loads of goods. From the north they went down cattle, skins and cheeses (the "sbrinz" of the Oberland Bernese), but also luxury products such as the precious crystals worked by the monks of Engelberg destined for Italian courts. From the south, the cloths and lust lumps and the wine of Ossola, exported to the court of France.
Focus, the Orrids of Uriezzo
A small canyon located in the municipality of Premia. In the course of the last glaciation (finished about 12,000 years ago) in the present Valle Antigorio and Formazza was the Ghisteel del Toce that with the passage of time and with the help of the torrents at its base eroded the rock by going to form this particular natural spectacle. The tortuous cunics and the throats that it is possible to admire today were formed once the glacier has disappeared. The draining of the various glacial streams has left room for a real canyon that you can visit on foot today. The phenomenon of erosion has created a very rare natural landscape in the Alps. The water force has made up a series of large subcircular cavities separated by narrow and tortuous cunicles whose walls are covered with grooves, volutes and niches.
Focus, Piero Portaluppi-Architect
was one of the most important architects and urbanists of the first half of the ' 900 Italian. Although he has operated predominantly in northern Italy, and in particular for the high bourgeoisie meneghine, he has a real revolution in the way of thinking about the architecture of public and private spaces. Over the course of his career he has carried out projects in a number of areas : not only palaces and residential villas, but also hydroelectric power stations-in which he applied architectural styles more related to historical construction than to industrial-funerary newsrooms, exhibition pavilions, hotels and much more.
Focus, the Formaggi of the Val d' Ossola
Among the cheeses of the Val d' Ossola a place of honor certainly occupies the Bettelmatt, the "cheese of the Gods," produced in seven alpeses of the Antigory valleys and Formazza at an altitude of between 1800 and 2400 meters. The Bettelmatt is produced in the summer, and it is a cheese that nods the great tradition of breed breeding of brown breed. Obtained from the milk of one milking, worked raw and whole, therefore with two daily work, it is a true triumph of perfumes, aromas and unmistakable flavours from the aromatics pastures of the Alps Lepontine.
The maturation of the Bettelmatt can vary from a few months to more years, but only after at least 90 days of seasoning the aromas and perfumes reach the height of the intensity. Of yellow gold or clowns, thick and bronze with maturation, intense, prolonged and deep, aromatic, never trivial flavour.
Other characteristic cheese is Ossolan : a semi-fat or fatty cheese from the delicate, herbaceous, more intense and prolonged flavour in the course of the affinity, used as a dish as a stant and also in the preparation of the traditional potato gnocchi, chestnut flour and pumpkin, or in the poles conce, or still with rye bread to form the traditional oxolan merenda.
a Verbania, sui Laghi, sul Lago Maggiore, nella Val d'Ossola, Premosello-Chiovenda, Vogogna, Macugnaga, sul Toce, Lago di Mergozzo
The route takes us up to 2300 mslm, on the Italo Elvetic border of Step San Giacomo, costing some artificial basins made by the Enel between the 20 and 30 of 1900.
Attention : The path is NOT walkable with the children's bike trailer.
What to see, historical to the San Giacomo Pass
Built from 1929 by the Enel to be able to carry out the dams of Lake Castel and Toggia. As soon as abandoned the evocative conca of Riale the road becomes dirt and becomes a masterpiece of engineering, with reduced slopes, to be confronted by trucks during construction work and back from the harmonious lines complemented by dry arch mulls from which it is possible to immortalize excavations on the tops of the high Formazza and the underlying lake of the Morasco.
What to see, Lake Toggia
We are at quota 2191 mslm, this dam was built in the years 1929-1932 on the Rio Roni, has a length of 199 meters and is 44 meters high.
Focus, Piero Portaluppi-Architect
was one of the most important architects and urbanists of the first half of the ' 900 Italian. Although he has operated predominantly in northern Italy, and in particular for the high bourgeoisie meneghine, he has a real revolution in the way of thinking about the architecture of public and private spaces. Over the course of his career he has carried out projects in a number of areas : not only palaces and residential villas, but also hydroelectric power stations-in which he applied architectural styles more related to historical construction than to industrial-funerary edicts, exhibition pavilions, hotels and much more.
a Verbania, sui Laghi, sul Lago Maggiore, nella Val d'Ossola, Premosello-Chiovenda, Vogogna, Macugnaga, sul Toce, Lago di Mergozzo
Attention : The path is NOT walkable with the children's bike trailer.
What to see, Riale [ Chärbäch-in Walser ]
Located at 1730 mslm, Riale is among the first settlements created by the Walsers that reached Ossola from nearby Canton Valais through the Gries Pass, is the northernmost fraction of the Piedmont and is a small jewel of montane architecture.
In the past, Riale and the Val Formazza represented an important trade route that put Valais (CH) in communication with neighboring Lombardy through the Gries Pass.
What to see, Oratorio di Sant' Anna
Built by the Edison company in remembrance of the chiesque of the submerged Morasco borgate and the workers who lost their lives during the construction of the dam. Sant' Anna was, with the Madonna della Neve, patron of the oratorio of the village of Morasco, abandoned definitively in 1938.
The cloth of Formazza, of ancient construction, "covered inside with lumber," preserved an icon with an icon with the wooden sculptures of the Virgin, Saint Anne and St. Bartholomew. After the destruction of the oratorio, the devotion of the valligians made the sculptures transport the nearby Riale oratory, from which they were pierted in the Seventies of the twentieth century.
What to see, The source of the Toce River
Nasce in the Piana of Riale from the joining of the torrents Morasco, Gries and Roni. Little further downstream forms the waterfall of the Toce, also called La Frua, which forms a jump of about 143 m. After passing through the Antigory and Formazza valleys, the Toce enters the plain and ends its course in the Lake Beetle, browsing in the Borromeo Gulf, its waters thus flowing into those of the Ticino, the sole emissary of Lake Maggiore.
Focus, the Cascade of the Toce
Situated in Frua fraction is considered one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the alps. On the days our waters are regimented by the Morasco hydroelectric basin, it is therefore possible to see it in the full of its beauty only for a few days a year in the months between June and September.
a Verbania, sui Laghi, sul Lago Maggiore, nella Val d'Ossola, Premosello-Chiovenda, Vogogna, Macugnaga, sul Toce, Lago di Mergozzo
l percorso che dal Lago Maggiore porta a Domodossola costeggia il Toce e attraversa gli storici borghi della Piana del Toce e importanti siti naturalistici.
L'itinerario ha inizio dalla stazione "Verbania-Pallanza" di Fondotoce e offre un ricco susseguirsi di mutevoli paesaggi che nel periodo primaverile esplodono di colori.
Da visitare lungo il percorso: fondotoce.
Il Parco della Memoria e della Pace con l'imponente Monumento in memoria dei quarantatré partigiani fucilati nel ’44, e la Casa della Resistenza.
Il percorso attraversa la Riserva Naturale del Canneto con il suo osservatorio.
Mergozzo e la sua frazione Candoglia dalla cui cava si estrae ancora oggi l’omonimo marmo per la Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano.
Ornavasso. L’itinerario passa in corrispondenza della Falesia del Cannone e raggiunge la Punta di Migiandone dove ha inizio la strada militare che ospita le trincee della Linea Cadorna con il suo Forte di Bara (che volendo è possibile raggiungere in mtb).
Premosello – Chiovenda. L'Oasi Naturale di Bosco Tenso è stata istituita nel 1990 per la salvaguardia dell’ultima porzione di bosco “tensato”, già tutelata nel 1500 in quanto il bosco posto tra il Toce e le coltivazioni salvava queste ultime dalle esondazioni.
Vogogna, annoverato tra i Borghi più belli d'Italia, è stato Capitale dell'Ossola Inferiore e nel suo centro storico si trovano il Castello Visconteo ed il Palazzo Pretorio.
Pieve Vergonte con il Ponte sul fiume Anza che conduce a Piedimulera, dove svetta il torrione di Palazzo Testoni, realizzato probabilmente per avere controllo sulla mulattiera che conduceva in Valle Anzasca.
Villadossola. Fu un importante sito siderurgico per i metalli estratti in Valle Antrona, tanto da portare alla realizzazione, nel 1940, di un intero villaggio per le maestranze della S.A. Metallurgica Ossolana, che resta tutt’oggi un’opera unica nel suo genere.
Domodossola, principale centro della Val D’Ossola, sorge nella piana all’imbocco della Val Bognanco. È stata un importante crocevia di culture e scambi commerciali ed il suo centro storico, anticamente racchiuso tra mura pentagonali, è ricco di monumenti e palazzi storici. Per il rientro si suggerisce di prendere il treno alla stazione di Domodossola per raggiungere la stazione di Verbania – Pallanza.
a Verbania, sui Laghi, sul Lago Maggiore, nella Val d'Ossola, Premosello-Chiovenda, Vogogna, Macugnaga, sul Toce, Lago di Mergozzo
Si parte dalla piazzetta centrale di Premosello, dove si trova il noleggio di e-bike, si costeggia il fiume sulla sponda destra, e seguendo la strada si sale a tornarti fino a Colloro.
Il percorso permette di raggiungere l'oratorio di Lut, punto di straordinaria panoramicità sulla valle. Inoltre a Colloro, che guarda a sud, c'è il sole fino a tardi , e l'inverno è mite.
a Verbania, sui Laghi, sul Lago Maggiore, nella Val d'Ossola, Premosello-Chiovenda, Vogogna, Macugnaga, sul Toce, Lago di Mergozzo
Un bel tour verso al foce del Toce.
a Verbania, sui Laghi, sul Lago Maggiore, nella Val d'Ossola, Premosello-Chiovenda, Vogogna, Macugnaga, sul Toce, Lago di Mergozzo
This is a route suitable for everyone, meaning it's simple yet also evocative.
It starts from the e-bike rental point of BikeSquare in the center of Premosello-Chiovenda.
You pass through the Borgo Tenso Nature Oasis, where it's possible to ride sheltered by oaks, ashes, willows, and maples. If you manage to rent the e-bikes in spring, you will be able to admire the blooming of hawthorn and elderflower.
The Oasis is known for the presence of many birds such as herons, cuckoos, tawny owls, buzzards, and kingfishers. In the clearings and the forest, there are dens of foxes, hares, and squirrels. Who knows if you'll spot something?
After leaving the more natural part of the route, you continue to the hamlet of Colloro, where you can enjoy the view of the Toce plain and perhaps stop to taste a typical dish.
a Verbania, sui Laghi, sul Lago Maggiore, nella Val d'Ossola, Premosello-Chiovenda, Vogogna, Macugnaga, sul Toce, Lago di Mergozzo
Ebike route from Premosello-Chiovenda to Vogogna
This tour starts from the BikeSquare-Borgotenso rental point and heads towards Vogogna.
You will leave the village of Premosello to reach the Ciclovia del Toce and then cycle to the center of Vogogna. It is an easy route suitable for everyone.
The Ciclovia del Toce
The Ciclovia del Toce is a cycling path that winds along the Toce River. The cycle path is about 50 kilometers long and allows you to travel from Domodossola to the area of Lake Mergozzo and Lake Maggiore. It is an easy itinerary, suitable for both experienced cyclists and beginners, including children. It enables you to ride immersed in nature, passing through woods and clearings. A section of the cycle path is known as 'cycling through the woods.'
Following the river, the cycle path offers beautiful views of the watercourse: it's nice to cool off on very hot days.
The riverbanks are rich in typical vegetation of the area, and there are also sections where flowers typical of the Lake Maggiore region are cultivated.
Vogogna and Its Castle
Vogogna is one of the most beautiful villages in Italy with a medieval history waiting to be discovered. The town is still surrounded by ancient fortifications. The village was once located on the old Simplon road, which historically connected the Domodossola area with Brig in Switzerland. The symbol of the village and Val d'Ossola is the Visconti Castle. The castle is located to the north of the village and is built against a rocky spur. What can be seen today was part of a larger defensive system that also served as a lookout point over Val d'Ossola.
a Verbania, sui Laghi, sul Lago Maggiore, nella Val d'Ossola, Premosello-Chiovenda, Vogogna, Macugnaga, sul Toce, Lago di Mergozzo
This is a route that will allow you to cycle both on paved roads and partly on dirt paths. It is a medium-difficulty route that mostly develops over flat terrain, except for a climb of about 3 kilometers that leads to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Boden.
The oasis of Borgo Tenso, Madonna del Boden, and Lake Mergozzo
Starting from the BikeSquare rental in Premosello-Chiovenda, you will cycle towards the Natural Oasis of Bosco Tenso, the ideal place to seek shade from the sun and enjoy the coolness of the forest composed of oaks and chestnut trees, as well as observe birds and the variety of wildlife that inhabits the area. You will continue cycling towards Ornavasso to reach the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Boden. Thirsty? You can quench your thirst by filling your water bottle at the fountain from which healing water flows. You can then continue cycling along the Toce cycle path until you reach Mergozzo.
Here, you can ride along the shores of Lake Mergozzo and stop at one of the local establishments in the area.
You will return to Premosello-Chiovenda by retracing the Toce cycle path.
a Verbania, sui Laghi, sul Lago Maggiore, nella Val d'Ossola, Premosello-Chiovenda, Vogogna, Macugnaga, sul Toce, Lago di Mergozzo
This is a route that will allow you to cycle both on paved roads and partly on dirt paths. It is a medium-difficulty route that mostly develops over flat terrain, except for a climb of about 3 kilometers that leads to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Boden.
The oasis of Borgo Tenso, Madonna del Boden, and Lake Mergozzo
Starting from the BikeSquare rental in Premosello-Chiovenda, you will cycle towards the Natural Oasis of Bosco Tenso, the ideal place to seek shade from the sun and enjoy the coolness of the forest composed of oaks and chestnut trees, as well as observe birds and the variety of wildlife that inhabits the area. You will continue cycling towards Ornavasso to reach the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Boden. Thirsty? You can quench your thirst by filling your water bottle at the fountain from which healing water flows. You can then continue cycling along the Toce cycle path until you reach Mergozzo.
Here, you can ride along the shores of Lake Mergozzo and stop at one of the local establishments in the area.
You will return to Premosello-Chiovenda by retracing the Toce cycle path.
a Verbania, sui Laghi, sul Lago Maggiore, nella Val d'Ossola, Premosello-Chiovenda, Vogogna, Macugnaga, sul Toce, Lago di Mergozzo
Routes Cicloturismo Verbania Laghi Ossola