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00 Arona
Stemma di Arona

Piedmont · Novara

Arona

A town at the southern tip of a lake, watched over by a colossus finished in 1698.

Best time
Apr–Oct
By car
1 h from Milan
By train
Station in the comune
Population
13,694

Known for

  • SANCARLONE

    35.1-meter copper colossus of San Carlo Borromeo, the tallest visitable statue in the world from 1698 until the Statue of Liberty in 1886.

  • ROCCA BORROMEO

    Ruined Borromeo castle above town, birthplace of Carlo Borromeo in 1538 and razed by Napoleonic troops in 1800.

  • LAGONI DI MERCURAGO

    UNESCO pile-dwelling site since 2011, Bronze Age stilt settlement in the natural park on the southern edge of the commune.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

  • J9°
  • F12°
  • M13°
  • A17°
  • M21°
  • J26°
  • J28°
  • A28°
  • S23°
  • O18°
  • N13°
  • D9°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

Why come

Arona sits ninety kilometers north of Milano, the first stop most travellers reach when they leave the city for the lakes. The town came under the Borromeo family in 1439 and stayed there for centuries: the castle on the hill above town was their stronghold, and the next hill over holds the statue raised in the family's honor, so the two high points of Arona both belong to the same lineage looking down on the water and on each other. The lakefront below connects the two hills to the church on the shore and to the promenade that runs north with Angera visible across the water on the Lombard side.

The natural park on the southern edge of the commune sits apart from this Borromeo core, its pile-dwelling remains far older than anything else in town and unconnected to the family's centuries of rule. What the place adds up to is a town organized around one family's presence in stone and copper, with a much older, unrelated settlement preserved at its edge.

The Sunday letter

Arona is on our list. Its letter is still to come.

We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Arona comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.

Read on

Arona in our articles

How to get there

From Milan (BGY), about 1h 31m by car.

Turin (TRN) is about 1h 33m away.

By car from the centre of Brescia 2 hours.

There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.

Coming from Milan, Turin or Genoa?

Coming by train into Milano Centrale? Arona is about 1 hour away by road.

Every town within reach of Milan airport.

Arona, photo 1
Arona, photo 2

What to see

  • Sancarlone

    Copper colossus of San Carlo Borromeo, designed by Il Cerano and built between 1614 and 1698, standing above the Sacro Monte.

  • Rocca di Arona

    Ruined fortress on the hill above town, the walls broken into towers since the demolition, with views over the water below.

  • Collegiata di Santa Maria Nascente

    Late medieval church on the lakefront, holding a polyptych by Gaudenzio Ferrari completed in 1511.

  • Parco Naturale dei Lagoni di Mercurago

    Regional natural park with Bronze Age pile-dwelling sites included in the UNESCO Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps since 2011.

  • Lungolago di Arona

    Long promenade looking north up Lake Maggiore, with the rival town of Angera on the opposite Lombard shore.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Arona fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

We recommend

Where to eat

Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.

  • StrattoriaRistorante

    One Gambero Rosso fork (77/100) for Strattoria, and a spot in the Michelin Guide.

  • BluRistorante

    Blu has a spot in the Michelin Guide to its name.

  • CastagnetoRistorante

    Castagneto has a Michelin Bib Gourmand to its name.

  • CondividereRistorante

    A Michelin Bib Gourmand, at Condividere.

Living here

  • Population 13,694
  • Commuter belti
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Train station in the comune
  • Nearest airport Milan, 1 h 31 min drive
  • Regional capital Torino, 1 h 33 min drive

Common questions

What is Arona known for?
Arona is a town at the southern tip of a lake, watched over by a colossus finished in 1698.
Where is Arona?
Arona is a comune in the province of Novara, in Piedmont, at 212 meters above sea level.
What is the nearest airport to Arona?
Milan (BGY), about 1h 31m by car.
Can you get to Arona without a car?
Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
How long is the drive from Brescia to Arona?
About 2 hours by car.
When is the best time to visit Arona?
Best in Apr–Oct. August is the warmest month, averaging 28 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 19 rain days.
Which other towns are like Arona?
Omegna, Castiglione del Lago and Bracciano.
How many people live in Arona?
13,694 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 212 m
  • Population: 13,694
  • Surface area: 15.17 km²

These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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