Verbano-Cusio-Ossola: ski hotels and cross-country skiing in Valle Formazza
Accommodation in Verbano-Cusio-Ossola
With Valle Formazza, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola offers a distinctive winter attraction: there are more than 30 kilometres of cross-country ski trails, spread across the San Michele and Riale loops. The fourth stage of the Via del Gries begins in Riale, passes the Morasco dam and the Bettelmatt plateau, and climbs to the Gries Pass. The route in Valle Formazza can be reached via the international railway station in Domodossola and the bus connection into Valle Formazza as far as the Toce Waterfall.
File:Arrampicatore sale su sasso attrezzato a Foppiano di Crodo (Verbano-Cusio-Ossola) - 2017-04-24.jpg
Photo: Mænsard vokser via Source, CC BY-SA 4.0
Winter trails and mountain hikes
The Parco Nazionale della Val Grande also offers day hikes of varying lengths and difficulty levels. The Giro della Val Toggia is a moderately difficult high-altitude hike covering 19.5 kilometres, with 731 metres of elevation gain and a total duration of 5 hours and 50 minutes.
The Parco Naturale Alpe Veglia-Devero encompasses 86 square kilometres of alpine terrain at elevations ranging from 1,600 to 3,500 metres. At Alpe Devero, a route leads to the Codelago dam at 1,856 metres and to the turquoise Lago Devero in the Parco Naturale Alpe Veglia-Devero.
Nature and landscape
The Parco Nazionale della Val Grande extends through the heart of the Provincia Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and is part of the Sesia-Val Grande Geopark. It is considered Italy’s largest wilderness area and is characterised by extensive forests and clear waters.
The Toce Waterfall is a waterfall with a 143-metre drop and is one of the highest waterfalls in Europe. It can be viewed from its base or from a wooden viewing bridge above the rocks.
The Giardini Botanici di Villa Taranto cover 16 hectares and include 20,000 botanically significant plants, more than 80,000 flowering bulb plants and more than 15,000 bedding plants. The gardens have been open to the public from April to October since 1952.
Isola Bella has a Baroque Italian-style garden with terraces, statues, obelisks, fountains and views over Lake Maggiore. The island also has a palace with more than 20 rooms, including the Sala del Trono, the Sala delle Regine, the Sala di Napoleone and the Galleria Berthier. Isola Madre’s eight-hectare English garden is the largest of the Borromean Islands and is home to plants and flowers from distant regions of the world.
Culture and history
The Sacro Monte di Domodossola was begun in 1656 to illustrate the Passion and death of Christ with life-size representations. The Sacro Monte Calvario di Domodossola is designated as a special reserve.
The Sacro Monte di Ghiffa comprises three chapels dedicated to the Incoronata, John the Baptist and Abraham, as well as a sanctuary and an 18th-century arcade of the Stations of the Cross. The Sacro Monte di Ghiffa can be reached in about 40 minutes via an old footpath from Ronco.
The Museo dell'Arte del Cappello in Ghiffa is housed in the premises of the former Panizza hat factory and conveys its industrial history through contemporary documents, pictures, tools and machinery. The museum also offers a workshop on making simple felt objects.
The Centro Visita di Intragna houses an exhibition on mountain provisions, the landscape and local mountain culture.
The restored Castelli di Cannero now house an immersive museum that presents their history. The restoration by the Borromeo family took ten years and was completed in 2025. The Castello Visconteo in Vogogna houses areas dedicated to medieval archaeology and other thematic exhibitions. It can be reached on foot through Vogogna’s historic centre and can also be visited inside.
The Strada Cadorna is a military road forming part of the defence system planned between 1899 and 1918. It includes trenches, small field hospitals, barracks, open gun emplacements, shelters and bunkers; the various sections can be explored on foot and traversed by mountain bike.
Regional traditions
The Walser heritage of Valle Formazza is reflected in the houses of its small hamlets, its settlement structures, preserved traditions, handicrafts and typical local cuisine. Bettelmatt cheese is produced exclusively in summer on seven alpine pastures at elevations of 1,500 to 2,500 metres in the municipalities of Baceno, Formazza and Premia.
Other places: Trarego Viggiona, Verbania, Arizzano, Cannero Riviera, Traffiume, Fondotoce, Gurrone, Cresseglio, Miazzina, Oggebbio, San Bernardino Verbano, Stresa, Vignone, Gurro, Ghiffa, Someraro, Beé, Varzo, Baveno, Premeno, Mergozzo, Omegna, Macugnaga, San Domenico, Feriolo Di Baveno, Brovello-Carpugnino, Belgirate, Aurano, Premia, Cavaglio-Spoccia, Cesara, Pollino, Gravellona Toce, Casale Corte Cerro, Cambiasca, Bracchio, Scareno, Crodo, Bognanco, Domodossola, Gignese, Villadossola, Valstrona, Baceno, Masera, Barbè Superiore, Quarna Sopra, Cursolo-Orasso, Formazza
To the higher-level travel overview: Piedmont.
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