Piedmont · Verbano-Cusio-Ossola
Baveno
A lake town whose quarries supplied columns for Milan's cathedral and a major basilica in Rome.
Known for
RED GRANITE
Pink-red Baveno granite worked since the 1500s, supplying columns for Milan's Duomo, Rome's San Paolo fuori le Mura and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.
GOLFO BORROMEO
Western shore of the Borromean Gulf on Lake Maggiore, ten minutes by boat from Isola Bella, Isola dei Pescatori and Isola Madre.
GERVASIO E PROTASIO
Romanesque parish church documented from 1133, set above the lakeside road beside an octagonal baptistery of the same period.
When to visit
Best · Apr–Oct
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Why come
Baveno sits on the west shore of the lake, twenty-one kilometers north-west of Arona. The town was occupied in the Iron Age by the Lepontii, a tribe of the Ligures, before the Romans reached the lake, and its historic core still gathers around the raised church and its baptistery above the shore road. To the north-west, the granite quarries have cut into the hillside since the early sixteenth century, and the stone they produced left Baveno for Milan and Rome, built into a cathedral, a basilica, and a shopping gallery.
Along the water, a line of nineteenth-century villas marks the period when Lake Maggiore became a fixed point on the European Grand Tour, and from that same shore the Isole Borromee sit a ten-minute ferry away, close enough that the gulf reads as one continuous view rather than a lake and its islands. The town's quarries built landmarks elsewhere while its own shore stayed a place people came to look at the water.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Baveno’s letter yet.
One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.
What to see
Chiesa dei Santi Gervasio e Protasio
The two Romanesque buildings, church and baptistery, form the religious centre of the historic core, raised above the road that runs along the water.
Cave di Granito Rosa
The quarries lie north-west of town, cut into the hillside, the source of stone that traveled to two large churches and a shopping gallery.
Golfo Borromeo
The gulf opens out between Baveno and Stresa, the water broken by three islands, Isola Bella, Isola dei Pescatori and Isola Madre, each reachable within minutes.
Ville ottocentesche
Line of 19th-century lakeside villas built when Baveno became a Grand Tour stop, including Villa Henfrey, Villa Branca and Villa Fedora.
The slow-trip planner
Building a trip? Find where Baveno fits in a slow Italy circuit.
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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.
SottoSopraRistorante
A spot in the Michelin Guide, at SottoSopra.
Living here
- Population 4,681
- Commuter belti
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest airport Milan, 1 h 36 min drive
- Regional capital Torino, 1 h 37 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 205 m
- Population: 4,681
- Surface area: 17.1 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Close by
More towns near Baveno
Stresa
Province: Verbano-Cusio-Ossola
A Lake Maggiore resort town at 200 meters, facing the Borromean Islands and running the Settimane Musicali since 1962.
Belgirate
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