Our country is rich in suggestive landscapes and architectonic jewels and they are all a short distance away:
the hills, off-shoots of Ivrea’s Morainic Amphitheatre, from which the CHIUSELLA, SACRA,SOANA and ORCO valleys flow along to GRAN PARADISO , the National Park, straddling Piemonte and the Aosta Valley.
The lakes surrounded by their parks: Candia, Viverone, Ivrea’s five lakes and many other sheets of water in the valleys. The woodland, the rivers and torrents and the plain which stretches out towards the rice fields of the Vercellese.
The many small towns and villages, vestiges of the Middle Ages: these were the lands of Arduino of Ivrea, the first King of Italy who fought and died here and where he is said to have been buried in his monasterial retrait at Fruttuaria ( or does he rest in the Valperga family’s castle at Masino, that now belongs to F.A.I. , the Italian National Trust ? ).
Castle in the Canavese : Agliè Ducal Castle, a Savoy residence, now known as the castle of Elisa of Rivombrosa, as it was used for the set of a famous television serial.
Ivrea Castle: built by Count Amedeo VI of Savoia.
Masino Castle, owned by the F.A.I. ,the Italian National Trust, a balcony overlooking the Canavese.
Mazzè Castle, dominating the Dora Baltea river as it leaves the Morainic Amphitheatre.
Rivara Castle, with its memories of “ The School of Rivara “, cenacle of artists such as Pittara, D’Andrade, Avondo and Bertea and now a contemporary art centre.
The Malgrà Castle in Rivarolo, the Benso Castle in Mercenasco, the Biandrade Castle in San Giorgio, Borgomasino, Candia, Castellamonte, Chiaverano, Foglizzo, Moncrivello, Parella, Pavone, Strambino, Valperga……
The most interesting places to visit, full of history, art and tradition are :
Ivrea ( our small capital ), of which Carducci wrote in his ode “ Piemonte “ :
“ Beauteous Ivrea
Her red towers
Reflected in the wide breast
Of the cerulean Dora,
With the gloomy shadow
Of King Arduino all around “
Agliè, Caluso, Candia, Castellamonte, Chivasso, Ciriè, Cuorgnè, Oglianico, Ozegna, Rivarolo, Romano, San Benigno, Strambino, Torre, Valperga ……
These and other interesting places are all in a radius of 20 kilometres….. and Turin is only 35 kilometres away.
