Whatever the season, Val Vigezzo, has something for everyone: sunny exposure, spectacular scenery, easy access, pretty mountainside villages, plenty of age old traditions, endless signposted walks, cycle tracks, wild swimming, ice-skating and downhill and cross-country skiing in winter.

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Unique amongst the seven Alpine valleys radiating off Val d’Ossola, Val Vigezzo, comprising over ten villages and hamlets, is the only one which does not come to a mountainous, and hence often shadowy, dead end.

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The wide valley bottom, at a height of 800 m, forms a sunlit corridor stretching east from above Domodossola all the way to the Swiss border; unsurprisingly most of the small towns and villages are located on the sunny south-facing side of the valley.

 

Mountain railway

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Idyllic Val Vigezzo is also the area’s easiest Alpine Valley to reach, either by car or by public transport.

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In fact, this is the only valley with its own enchanting mountain railway, connecting Domodossola and Locarno in Switzerland.

The train, known as the Vigezzina, makes plenty of stops, including a ghost village, and allows you to admire scenic alpine vistas, waterfalls, a Swiss lake and countless picturesque hamlets.

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The valley is also very popular with Italian day-trippers and tourists, both in winter and summer and thanks to its excellent sports facilities, attracts a good variety of ages.

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In summer the cross-country skiing area becomes a golf course and riding centre whilst there are beautiful cycle and running tracks through a pine forest.

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With the landscape dominated by mountains, pine forests and lush meadows, this is outstanding hiking country, with walks ranging from a short stroll around the sports area to the extremely challenging 10-12 hour hike across Italy’s largest wilderness area: Val Grande, setting off from the top of Val Loana near to Malesco and arriving in Colloro.

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Another challenging walk is to Bagni di Craveggia on the Swiss border at Spruga in Val Onsernone where there are warm springs (28°C).

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One very popular walk starts at Alpe Bliz where there are three mountain restaurants housed in magnificent stone buildings: the perfect place to experience Alpine Italy's vast, untrammelled landscapes.

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Alternatively, there are very enjoyable shorter walks - contouring along paths which hug the mountain side - between some of the smaller villages basking in the sun; for example, Albogno to Coimo.

 

Santa Maria Maggiore

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The two standout villages in the valley are elegant Santa Maria Maggiore, the main administrative centre, and Craveggia, a little to the east. Santa Maria Maggiore is the most enjoyable of the valley’s town. Bustling with life throughout the year and dotted with interesting sites, it is the archetypal idyllic small Italian town. Prettier, tidier and more cultivated than its neighbours, Santa Maria Maggiore boasts the most idyllic main square, edged by cosy cafes, the sort of place where you could quite happily spend an entire rainy afternoon. There are plenty of quaint shops selling local delicacies and crafts as well as a unique chimneysweeps museum in honour of the town’s ancestors who plied this particular trade, usually abroad. Many men earned enough to send back remittances to their families and to build some of the fine houses that abound in the town. Though one particular young man became instantly rich and famous after eavesdropping on and then revealing a plot against Louis XIII.

 

The local slippers, known as Vigezzine, make a great souvenir, if you can find them, whilst you must try some of the many delicacies, including traditional local cheese and ham, a traditional cake and Stinchett, thin slices of flour and water with local butter and a pinch of salt.

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Craveggia

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Unostentatious Craveggia, a genuinely lovely town, famous for its stunning stone roof-scape, is another highlight. Viewed from above, on the road to Blitz, Craveggia’s rain-soaked roofs and massive chimneys shimmering in the sunlight are a sight to behold.

Lastly, at Re, just before the Swiss border, there is an important religious sanctuary, a highly original early twentieth century church which successfully blends byzantine and Romanesque styles.

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Santa Maria Maggiore Christmas market

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Though plenty of towns organise markets selling crafts and local produce, the only one which comes close to the German variety in terms of atmosphere, is the large market held in the run-up to Christmas in the elegant town of Santa Maria Maggiore in Val Vigezzo, often against a romantic back-drop of snow-covered mountains. There is an interesting mixture of local people selling their wears (mostly crafts and food) and outsiders. As this market has become extremely popular recently (purportedly the largest in Piemonte) parking can be a problem and in fact the authorities now lay on a shuttle service from surrounding villages.

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Cycling 

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As the valley is a long, broad, flat corridor with rivers flowing in opposite directions, one down into Italy, and the other into Switzerland, this makes for great cycling terrain, especially on hot summer days when the valley’s altitude, at around 800 metres, takes the edge of the heat.

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The Val Vigezzo provides all the fun of riding in the lowlands with magnificent mountain scenery. Even though the dedicated cycle track, which doubles as a cross-country ski piste in the winter, is around 12 km long, there are no steep slopes. The vertical drop is no more than 80 metres.

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You can arrive by car or mountain railway at the village of Druogno above Domodossola and if you don’t have your own bike can rent one at the station through the Vigezzoinbici scheme.

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Bikes can also be rented at Santa Maria Maggiore, Malesco and Re. You can then cycle all the way to Re, famous for its spectacular byzantine style church.

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The route takes you across mountain pastures and a glorious pine forest and runs alongside and sometimes through a handful of very picturesque, un-spoilt villages including Santa Maria Maggiore and Malesco. Most of the houses still have stone tiled roofs.  

Where space allows and subject to permission from train staff, bikes may be transported on the mountain railway provided that the train service is limited to Italy, ie between Domodossola and Re, but not Switzerland.