The so-called Market way (Via del Mercato) connects Locarno with Domodossola, through the Centovalli and the Val Vigezzo. [1] The way uses ancient path and mule tracks used in the past centuries by merchants transporting goods from Italy and Switzerland. In the early 20th century the Centovalli railway was built in order to develop the commerce and is nowadays a main tourist attraction.
Locarno is a southern Swiss town and municipality in the district Locarno, located on the northern shore of Lake Maggiore at its northeastern tip in the canton of Ticino at the southern foot of the Swiss Alps. It has a population of about 16,000 (proper), and about 56,000 for the agglomeration of the same name including Ascona besides other municipalities.
Domodossola is a city and comune in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, in the region of Piedmont, northern Italy. It was also known as Oscela, Oscella, Oscella dei Leponzi, Ossolo, Ossola Lepontiorum, and Domo d'Ossola.
Centovalli is a valley and a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. It is composed of 19 villages or hamlets "frazioni":
Today hikers can walk the 62 km path dividing it in four stages or they can also use the railways that run along the tracks.
This way is part of the itinerary CoEur - In the heart of European paths.
The "Via del Mercato", from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, was the way travelled by merchants, woodsmen, stockmen and migrants passing because of work from the Ticino to the Ossola. This connection was used since ancient times because it is an easy way through the mountains, due to the periadriatic seam, the geologic fault along which are aligned the Val Vigezzo, Locarno, Bellinzona and the Valtellina.
The Ossola[ˈɔssola] is an area of Italy situated to the north of Lago Maggiore. It lies within the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola. Its principal river is the Toce, and its most important town Domodossola.
The Periadriatic Seam is a distinct geologic fault in Southern Europe, running S-shaped about 1000 km from the Tyrrhenian Sea through the whole Southern Alps as far as Hungary. It forms the division between the Adriatic plate and the European plate. The term Insubric line is sometimes used to address the whole Periadriatic Seam, but it is more commonly used to mean just a western part of it.
Bellinzona is a municipality, a historic Swiss town, and the capital of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The town is famous for its three castles that have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2000.
The importance of this marginal land is lately declined, but many proofs of arts and culture are still present in the Val Vigezzo.
The ancient road has been replaced by the present road, but it is still possible to find the old path thanks to the ways that connect villages and the ancient smuggling ways.
Along the Via del Mercato there are many points of historical and anthropological interest.
The Santuario della Madonna del Sangue in Re, built in neo-Byzantine style, pursuant to a miracle that happened in 1494, became a main religious point in the area.
Re is a village and comune in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, in the region of Piedmont, Italy, approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Domodossola and 7 kilometres (4 mi) from the border with Switzerland. It is situated on the Centovalli mountain railway route between Domodossola and Locarno and is home to a pilgrimage church.
The so-called "Good-bye chapel" was the place where the paysant said good-bye to their relatives who emigrate.
The church of Sant'Abbondio in Masera was the starting point of the old road of Vigezzo. The church has been abandoned for centuries, but it was recently restored and it is now possible admire the Romanesque architecture.
Masera is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 130 kilometres (81 mi) northeast of Turin and about 30 kilometres (19 mi) northwest of Verbania. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,483 and an area of 20.1 square kilometres (7.8 sq mi).
Santa Maria Maggiore is the heart of the Val Vigezzo. The parish church, originally built before 1000, was rebuilt in the 18th century and decorated with frescos made by local painter Giuseppe Maria Borgnis.
Santa Maria Maggiore is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 130 kilometres (81 mi) northeast of Turin and about 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of Verbania, on the border with Switzerland. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,236 and an area of 53.2 square kilometres (20.5 sq mi).
The Val Vigezzo is called the "valley of painters" and this tradition continues today thanks to the "Rossetti Valentini" school of art and its gallery.
The Chimney sweeper Museum in Santa Maria Maggiore conserve pictures, objects and tools of a forgotten profession, that played and important role in the economy of the Val Vigezzo. [2]
The main square in Craveggia village is called the Val Vigezzo's "Piazza dei Miracoli" because it holds two important religious buildings: the parish church and the baptistery. In the church is kept the Treasure of the King of France. [3]
Arrived in Switzerland you find the villages of Camedo, Borgnone, Lionza, Verdasio, Pila and Intragna, connected by roads and mule tracks. Intragna has the tallest bell tower (65 m) of all the Ticino. There is also the Museo etnografico regionale delle Centovalli e del Pedemonte, that collects the history of the area in the past centuries.
The canton of Ticino, formally the Republic and Canton of Ticino, is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Ticino borders the canton of Uri to the north, the canton of Valais to the west, the canton of Graubünden to the northeast, Italy's regions of Piedmont and Lombardy to the south and it surrounds the small Italian enclave of Campione d'Italia.
Arona is a town and comune on Lake Maggiore, in the province of Novara. Its main economic activity is tourism, especially from Milan, France and Germany.
Brissago is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. Brissago lies on the western shore of Lake Maggiore and includes the Brissago Islands.
The Via del Corso, is a main street in the historical centre of Rome. It is straight in an area otherwise characterized by narrow meandering alleys and small piazzas. Considered a wide street in ancient times, today the Corso is approximately 10 metres wide, and it only has room for two lanes of traffic and two narrow sidewalks. The northern portion of the street is a pedestrian area. The length of the street is roughly 1.5 kilometres.
Intragna is a village and locality in the municipality of Centovalli in the district of Locarno of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland
Via dei Tribunali is a street in the old historic center of Naples, Italy.
The Brissago Islands are a group of two islands located in the Swiss part of Lake Maggiore close to Ronco sopra Ascona and Brissago. Both islands belong to the district of Locarno, in the canton of Ticino.
The Valle Verzasca is a valley in the Locarno district of the Canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It comprises the municipalities of Mergoscia, Vogorno, Corippo, Lavertezzo, Brione, Gerra, Frasco, and Sonogno. As of 2004, the total population of 3,200. Mergoscia is at the geographical center of the Ticino, and none of the passes out of the valley cross cantonal or national borders. The valley is formed by the Verzasca River and is situated between the Leventina and the Maggia and culminates at Pizzo Barone.
Valle Vigezzo is a valley in the Lepontine Alps in northwestern Italy on the border with Canton Ticino of Switzerland. It forms the eastern branch of the Ossola valley. It is also called the Valle dei Pittori due to the large number of painters over the centuries such as Giuseppe Mattia Borgnis, Lorenzo Peretti, Bernardino Peretti, Enrico Cavalli, Carlo Fornara, Giovanni Battista Ciolina, Gian Maria Rastellini, Maurizio Borgnis, Lorenzo Peretti Junior. It is remembered for its "spazzacamini" or chimney-sweepers who brought their trade around Europe. It is connected with the Eau de Cologne, invented over 300 years ago by Giovanni Maria Farina using, among other ingredients flowers and oils from plants from Vigezzo. Another man from Vigezzo is also credited to be the first recorded person swimming across the English Channel over 200 years ago, after having been taken prisoner by the British after Waterloo.
The Melezza, in Italy the Melezzo Orientale, is a 42 km Alpine torrent which runs through the eastern part of the Val Vigezzo, in the Province of Verbano Cusio Ossola, northern Italy; and through the Centovalli of Canton Ticino, Switzerland. Belonging to the Po basin, it is a tributary of the Maggia which in its turn flows into Lago Maggiore.
The Domodossola–Locarno railway, also known as the Centovalli railway is a metre-gauge railway negotiating the dramatic mountainous terrain between Domodossola, Italy, and Locarno, Switzerland. It passes through the villages of Intragna and Santa Maria Maggiore and carried over 1 million passengers in 2010. It is operated by the Ferrovie Autolinee Regionali Ticinesi (FART) in Switzerland and the Società Subalpina di Imprese Ferroviarie S.p.A. (SSIF) in Italy.
Camedo is a Swiss village near the border with Italy. Camedo is part of the Swiss municipality of Centovalli located in Canton Ticino. Camedo is a distinctive separate village and, in spite of being a small frazione in terms of total area, it retains its character among the 19 localities of Centovalli.
Val Grande National Park is a protected area located in Piedmont, in the north of Italy, at the border with Switzerland. It is most notable for landscapes of the High Alps.
Spazzacamini was the term for child laborers in 19th- and early 20th-century Italy and Switzerland, where they were also known as Kaminfegerkinder in German-speaking areas.
CoEur is a devotional and hiking route in Italy and Switzerland. Its Italian subtitle, Nel cuore dei cammini d'Europa, translates as "In the heart of Europe's paths.
The Sacro Monte del Santuario di San Giovanni Battista d'Andorno is the Sacro Monte built around a sanctuary in the Cervo Valley above the village of Campiglia Cervo, at an altitude of 1020 meters. It is the only sanctuary devoted to Saint John in Italy and probably in Europe.
The Brughiera sanctuary is a sanctuary devoted to the Virgin Mary in the comune of Trivero in northern Italy.
The Santuario della Madonna del Sangue is a sanctuary in the comune (municipality) of Re, Italy. It is devoted to the Virgin Mary and it was built where in 1494 a miracle occurred: a small fresco of the Nursing Madonna was hit by a stone and started bleeding.