Ossola never goes unnoticed.

You understand that you are about to cross the threshold of another world when you begin to notice the first reliefs that rise on the horizon.

You see a large green valley, set between vertiginous peaks, which leads the visitor to look upwards while trying to understand how small it is compared to the work of nature.

The boundaries of the whole valley of glacial origin, delimited by the Pennine Alps to the west and Lepontine to the North-East, form, seen from the satellite, a kind of leaf, with a multitude of mountain streams and streams that act as ribs converging towards the Toce, which channels all this enormous mass of water by diving into Lake Maggiore.

The main city along the river is Domodossola, the perfect Swiss-style capital, the nerve center of the entire Ossola Valley. The small town, mentioned since the first centuries BC, is located near the Mattarella hill, which the Capuchin friars of the seventeenth century chose as the place to build the Sacro Monte Calvario, a complex of 12 chapels decorated with frescoes and statues, which today is part of the group of sacred alpine and pre-alpine mountains sponsored by Unesco.

Following the course of the Toce up to Lake Maggiore, there are some small mountain villages such as Vogogna with its picturesque castle of medieval origin, Premosello-Chiovenda, Mergozzo and Candoglia, where the mother quarry of the Milan Cathedral is located.

All these villages are located on the border of the Val Grande National Park, where the outermost mountain ranges form an almost impenetrable wall.

The main gateway to access this fortress is the narrow and winding road that leads to Cicogna, still populated by about 15 souls, the last place where you can park your car.

Entrare all’interno di questo giardino botanico, più che una visita, è un’esperienza sensoriale unica, dove l’olfatto ne rimarrà completamente estasiato, e dove durante le maestose fioriture è possibile vedere gironzolare api e bombi desiderosi di far scorpacciata di prelibatissimo polline. 

Beyond Cicogna, the immense void.

After the great and bloody roundup in June 1944 the few remaining mountaineers fled, the mountain pastures were transformed into ruins, the green pastures into dense woods, the old cableways used to transport the timber were incorporated into the vegetation.

After the war, the unstoppable depopulation due to the difficult living conditions returned the earth to nature, which transformed the place into the Amazon of Italy.

Within these 120 square kilometers there is no telephone coverage, and the only lights you will see are those of the planes passing in the sky.

Entering Val Grande is a mystical experience, a spiritual journey: up there, above one of the countless paths almost forgotten by man, you can feel the deep contact with the force of primordial nature.

Here, getting lost serves to find oneself.

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