Boasting a fine collection of gorgeous belle époque villas and mansions, many with wonderful gardens, Dagnente is the very first unspoilt, traditional village you reach arriving from Milan, Malpensa and the south.  If you’re looking for an easy-to-reach, peaceful escape to old fashioned Italy, Dagnente is hard to beat.

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This picturesque hilltop village is surrounded by deep chestnut forests and is just 25 minutes’ walk or 5 minutes’ drive above the small town of Meina on Lago Maggiore. Just 7 minutes from a motorway exit as well as 7 minutes by car from Arona, it makes a great base for exploring both the lakeside attractions and the less well known hinterland with several very picturesque traditional villages nearby.

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This timeless community has an engaging dual personality: part traditional terracotta tiled village with a small shop, bar and restaurant and part conveniently located countryside venue where high-society Milanese traditionally met up at their mansions at weekends or during the summer. 

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Dagnente owes its fortune to its location at the southern tip of Lago Maggiore and its proximity to Arona which up until 1906 and the extension of the line along the shores of Lago Maggiore, stood as the railway line terminus for trains arriving from Milan and Novara. Offering stunning views over the lake and an escape from the oppressive summer heat, the village made the perfect choice for wealthy Milanese industrialists and bankers looking for a weekend or summer retreat and throughout the nineteenth century and into the early years of the twentieth century, dozens of beautiful houses were built in the area.

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There is a wide swathe of stunning belle époque and art deco villas, mostly with gorgeous English style gardens, running down from Dagnente to the lake at Meina below. The finest example is Villa Farragiana on the lake on the outskirts of Meina. Currently for sale, rumour has it that the owner of a major premier league football team was interested in buying the villa but was put off by the lack of a helicopter landing pad. The asking price is over 100 million Euro.

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The area has long been associated with celebrities and famous names from history, and a few years ago disgraced former Italian prime minister, Berlusconi, bought a lakeside villa between Meina and Lesa. It is apparently back on the market now .

Dagnente village centre has been exceedingly well preserved and boasts an intricate network of meandering, largely traffic free cobbled streets made up of a fascinating assortment of stones ranging from huge rectangular slabs to round river stones. In addition Dagnente is one of the few traditional villages still to have maintained a village shop together with a bar cum restaurant, in addition to a football pitch and basketball court which are open to all comers and where local youth can usually be found playing on weekends.

You can easily while away a couple of hours aimlessly wandering around, admiring the vernacular architecture or sitting in the cosy bar listening to the local men animatedly discussing last night’s match. Even better, Arca di Noe, the bar-restaurant serves excellent, good value lunches every day and dinners at weekends either indoors or on the outside terrace, depending on the weather.

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No visit to Dagnente would be complete without a stroll to the church perched dramatically on a small knoll. Go round behind the church to the stunning terrace where you can soak up the scenic perfection of one of Lago Maggiore’s finest views, taking in many major attractions including two Unesco World Heritage Sites.

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Gazing south, the 180 degree vista takes in the wooded lowlands where the lake narrows into the Ticino river and the terracotta roofs of Arona’s pretty old town nestled by the waterside beneath the sheer cliffs of La Rocca. If you look carefully, merging into lush vegetation, you’ll see the huge green bronze statue of San Carlo above Arona (once the world’s largest statue) towering over the trees, just 3 minutes from Dagnente. Above Arona is Mercurago Nature Park, a Unesco World Heritage Site on account of the first prehistoric pile dwellings discovered in Italy. Of course, you’ll already have noticed cliff-top Angera Castle directly opposite, totally dominating the southern section of the lake - particularly eye-catching at night when floodlit. Look out for the boats shuttling hypnotically backwards and forwards between Arona and Angera.

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If the air is clear, you’ll see another Unesco World Heritage Site, perched in a commanding position on a distant hillside and gleaming in the sun: Sacro Monte in Varese. Looking northwards, world-famous Santa Caterina, clings dramatically to a cliff-side ledge above the lake. Further north still are the Alps, wearing a mantle of snow for much of the year. On the skyline you can see Monte Generoso in Switzerland, famous for the railway that snakes its way almost to the top of the mountain from Lake Lugano.

Signposts around Dagnente beckon you to the vast chestnut forests blanketing the rolling hills behind the village. Head for the playground just below the church and follow the signs to Montrigiasco, completely surrounded by woodland. There you will find a highly rated restaurant, Il Castagneto (aptly, the Chestnut grove) and a promising new start-up, La Strattoria, a top-notch restaurant specialising in locally sourced ingredients.

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Another lovely route up into the woods, dotted with rare patches of meadowland, still being farmed, crosses Dagnente’s tiny Piazza Principale, clearly once the mediaeval heart of the village. Continuing on for a couple of hundred yards you will come to an old communal lavatoio where the women used to wash their clothes before the advent of washing machines; judging by the occasional presence of soapy water, it is still in use.

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All these paths through the woods are also suitable for mountain bikes; in fact there is a very extensive network of mostly woodland trails running all the way to the area’s highest mountain, Mottarone at nearly 1500 metres above sea level. The woods abound with wild boar and deer.

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There is also a fine walk down from Dagnente on a little-used road to lake-side Meina with its beach and lido. The road cuts through woodland and is lined with stunning old villas, often hidden behind trees.

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The highlight is undoubtedly the spectacular roof-scape as you gaze over the lakeside town and church from above. The photogenic panorama is at its best in the late afternoon when the town is bathed in light. Look out for a panoramic shortcut starting just after the viewpoint where the train track emerges out of a tunnel; this path will take you to the most picturesque part of Meina, including the main church and is the quickest way to the beach and Meina Beach Bar.