Photos of Italy’s North West

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Italy’s North West

The northwestern corner of Italy, south of the Swiss Alps, offers great variety, beautiful landscapes with picturesque lakes, villages and grand cities. There are hiking and skiing possibilities in the mountains and swimming and boating possibilities on the lakes.

Town square, Lodi
 
Boys from Lodi
 
Church, Capino Bergamasco
 
Lombardy landscape
 
Lake Como
 
Abarth 1000 Record
 
Abarth 1000 Monoposto
 
Po river, Turin
 
In Orta San Giulio
 
View to San Giulio
 
Piazza Mario Motta
 
San Giulio from Via Fava
 
Along Lake Orta
 
Vila Crespi
 
Minaret, Via Crespi
 
View from
 
Statues, Sacro Monte
 
St. Francis and Pope
 
Overlooking Orta
 
Narrow street, Orta
 
Isola di San Giulio
 
San Giulio island street
 
View to Alzo
 
View from San Giulio
 
Well on San Giulio
 
Piazza Ing. Mario Motta
 
Santa Maria Assunta Church
 
Along Salita della Motta
 
View from Sacro Monte
 
Sacro Monte chapels
 
From San Nicolao
 
Lake Orta east shore
 
Via Crespi view
 
San Giulio from road
 
To Orta Centro
 
Via Giacomo Giovanetti
 

Lombardia (Lombardy) was named after a Germanic tribe (Langobards or Lombards) who inherited it from barbarians who had wrested it from the Roman Empire. It became a pawn of Europe’s powerful families and suffered invasion from Venetians, Austrians and Napoleon’s French. Its capital, Milano (Milan), is a business and financial centre and, after Rome, Italy’s largest city. But to its north are the beautiful landscapes along the Swiss border, with its lakes: Lake Maggiore, Como, Iseo and Garda, popular with holidaymakers.

Piemonte’s capital, Torino (Turin), the centre of the House of Savoy, which ruled the region from the early 11th Century and became the Royal family of a united Italy, made the city briefly its capital. It is an industrial centre: the automobile company Fiat is based here, among others. The region also produces some of the best red wines and grows a large proportion of Italy’s rice. In the foothills of the Alps, and just to the west of majestic Lago Maggiore, is the small and picturesque Lake Orta, with its wonderful town and San Giulio island opposite.