A town of about 5,000 inhabitants, with a favourable position, overlooking the fishermen island. With the guide you will walk along the lakeside promenade of Baveno, discovering also a past, not too long ago, witness of the second world war. Accompanied by the marvelous Borromeo islands setting, you will see the statue of the "picasass", the impressive beautiful villa Branca, built in 1872, in neo-Gothic style. It was the property of the engineer Charles Henfrey, who hosted here, among other, Queen Victoria of England in 1879. Today it is privately owned by the Branca family .
Just a few steps from Villa Branca, the historical Lido Palace hotel. Formerly the villa belonged to the marquises family Durazzo and then, in 1880, it was transformed into a luxury hotel; Richard Wagner and Winston Churchill, were illustrious special guests here.
Accompanied by the guide, you will reach the lanes of Baveno, and enter the old town, where Gilberto Carpo’ s work is waiting for you; a mural dedicated to the old stone-cutters and to the nearby pink granite quarries.
Baveno was one of the most important religious villages of this area and still today preserve its Romanesque church dedicated to Saints Gervasio and Protasio. You will also discover the Stations of the Cross, dating back to the nineteenth century; the old ossuary and a remarkable baptistery, whose interior houses frescoes of the sixteenth century and a wooden beam of early post-Christian origin.
It is advisable to prolong the walk, passing in front of the big hotels Dino and Simplon, to get to the park of Villa Fedora, where the music composer Umberto Giordano lived and worked for a long time, here he wrote his famous Opera Fedora. The park is open to the public.
The visit of the city has no entry costs.