San Carlo Circuit connects the Cannobina valley villages and takes its name from Saint Carlo Borromeo in memorial of a pastoral visit that the Saint made in the valley in 1574. In Gurro the ancient and fascinating “Casa San Carlo” recalls the place where the saint slept on his pastoral journey. It is a two-stage itinerary: the first from Cannobio on the Lake Maggiore to Falmenta, small village in the Cannobina Valley. The second stage is a semicircular itinerary starting from Falmenta that reaches Cursolo (on the opposite bank of Cannobino river). The route follows almost entirely beautiful paved mule tracks. From Falmenta a variant of the second stage allows to reach directly Cursolo from Gurro by shortening the route.
THE CIRCUIT:
San Carlo Circuit
THE LEGS OF THIS CIRCUIT:
San Carlo Circuit Leg 1: Cannobio - Falmenta
San Carlo Circuit Leg 2: Falmenta - Cursolo
San Carlo Circuit Leg 2A: Falmenta - Cursolo
Notable Items along the Track
The territory of the Cannobina Valley, of particular charm, still retains the appearance of the past. The landscape is marked by the testimonies of traditional peasant life, based on subsistence agriculture. The villages are characterized by unexpected glimpses, ancient houses with votive paintings on the facades, small squares, rustic stone fountains, which are discovered along the narrow pedestrian streets. The stretch of Daila, Provola and Ponte Creves is part of the Valgrande National Park. In Traffiume, before Cannobio, the Cannobino torrent dug a spectacular ravine, the Orrido di Sant'Anna. Cannobio is the last town on the Piedmontese shores of Lake Maggiore before the border with Switzerland. Due to its geographical position, it represented an important strategic and commercial node, still well represented by the presence of numerous palaces of the XVII-XIX century which overlook the cobbled streets of the historic center such as the sixteenth-century residence of Palazzo Omacini and Palazzo Pironi. In Gurro it is possible to visit the Geological Museum and the ethnographic Museum of Gurro and Valle Cannobina which collects traditional objects and customs of the Valley. The visit is structured in environments that reconstruct the typical domestic contexts of the Cannobina Valley.
POUT_ACCESSO_LABEL
Highway A26 to Verbania then State Road 34 of Lake Maggiore to Cannobio. Falmenta and Cursolo can be reached both from Cannobio and from the Vigezzo Valley via the provincial road of the Cannobina Valley. It is a very narrow winding road that requires extreme caution when driving
Accesso con mezzi pubblici
The local railway station is Verbania Pallanza. Line buses for Cannobio leave from the station. Buses leave from Cannobio (very few trips, sometimes even just one a day) to the villages of the Cannobina Valley. For timetables consult the website www.vcotrasporti.it. Cannobio can also be reached with the boats of the Navigazione Lago Maggiore www.navigazionelaghi.it