Anywhere Italy
Orta San Giulio, Piemonte
Coat of arms of Orta San Giulio

Piemonte · Novara

Orta San Giulio

A promontory facing an islet basilica, with a UNESCO complex of Francis-of-Assisi chapels on the hill above.

Best time
Apr–Oct
By car
1 h 8 min from Milan
By train
Station in the comune
Population
1,047

Known for

  • SACRO MONTE

    UNESCO inscription of 2003, twenty Francis-of-Assisi chapels on San Nicolao hill, modelled on Varallo and begun under Abbot Canobio in 1583.

  • ISOLA DI SAN GIULIO

    The lake's only island, with a fourth-century Romanesque basilica and a Benedictine convent on the site of a medieval castle.

  • PIAZZA MOTTA

    Lakefront square framed by the 1582 broletto of the Comunità della Riviera, the autonomous federation of lake towns that ran until the 1700s.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

  • J9°
  • F12°
  • M13°
  • A17°
  • M21°
  • J25°
  • 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

The town occupies a promontory pushed into the eastern shore of the lake, facing the small island 275 meters long and 140 meters wide. The two are close enough that the island reads as an extension of the town rather than a separate place, and a five-minute motorboat from the piazza is the only way across. The old town holds three Tier-A signals at once: Borghi più belli, Bandiera Arancione, and the UNESCO inscription of 2003.

The relationship between the three parts of the town explains how it works: the waterfront square and its lanes sit at lake level, facing the island directly across the water, while the hill above holds the devotional complex, reached by climbing away from the shore rather than along it. Piazza Motta was also the seat of the Comunità della Riviera di San Giulio, an autonomous federation of lake towns that survived from the Middle Ages to the mid-eighteenth century, which is why the square, not the hill or the island, was built as a civic center. What results is a town in three registers at once: civic life at the water's edge, monastic life offshore, and devotional life on the hill above, each occupying its own ground and visible from the others.

The Sunday letter

Orta San Giulio 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 Orta San Giulio comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.

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Orta San Giulio in our articles

How to get there

From Turin (TRN), about 1 h 33 min by car.

Milan (BGY) is about 1 h 36 min away.

By car from the center of Brescia 1 h 58 min.

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? Orta San Giulio is about 1 h 8 min away by road.

Every town within reach of Turin airport.

First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.

Orta San Giulio, Piemonte
Orta San Giulio, Piemonte

What to see

  • Basilica di San Giulio

    Serpentine ambo inside and a silver shrine dated 1697. Reached by boat, the basilica stands close to the water's edge, the focal point of the view from every point on the promontory.

  • Piazza Motta and Palazzo della Comunità

    The broletto's arcades face the water directly, and the square narrows toward the boat landing where the crossing to the island begins.

  • Sacro Monte di Orta

    The chapels climb the wooded hillside in sequence, each framing a scene, with the town and the lake opening up in views between them as the path gains height.

  • Isola di San Giulio

    A convent and an ex-seminary, built in 1844, stand over the ruins of the medieval castle, filling most of the small island's ground.

  • Centro storico

    Pedestrian-only old town along the promontory, lanes of stone houses with painted facades stepping down to the lake.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Orta San Giulio fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer six 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 and stay

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.

  • Villa CrespiRistorante

    Villa Crespi carries three Michelin stars, three Gambero Rosso forks (93/100), plus a place in L'Espresso's Top 300, among other nods.

  • Andrea Monesi - Locanda di OrtaRistorante

    Andrea Monesi - Locanda di Orta carries one Michelin star.

  • Laqua by the LakeHotel

    Laqua by the Lake holds one Michelin Key.

  • Villa CrespiHotel

    One Michelin Key, at Villa Crespi.

Before you sit down: how to order at a restaurant, how to spot a tourist trap, what aperitivo is and how the Italian bar works.

Living here

  • Population 1,047, down 1.3% since 2015
  • In-betweeni
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Train station in the comune
  • Nearest public hospital Omegna, 9 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
  • Full fibre reaches 83% of homes
  • Primary school in the comune
  • Earthquake zone 4, very low hazard
  • Nearest airport Turin, 1 h 33 min drive
  • Regional capital Torino, 1 h 33 min drive

Could you live here?

Orta San Giulio is a village with a town close by.

  • A village of 1,047, with Gozzano (5,499 people) 6 min away for the shopping and a meal out. Our rule is a town within 15 minutes.
  • Gallarate, a city of 52,811, is 37 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
  • A station of its own. Trains are the overlooked way to get around Italy: no parking, straight into the center.

The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.

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Common questions

What is Orta San Giulio known for?
Orta San Giulio is a promontory facing an islet basilica, with a UNESCO complex of Francis-of-Assisi chapels on the hill above.
Where is Orta San Giulio?
Orta San Giulio is a comune in the province of Novara, in Piemonte, at 294 meters above sea level.
What is the nearest airport to Orta San Giulio?
Turin (TRN), about 1 h 33 min by car.
Can you get to Orta San Giulio 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 Orta San Giulio?
About 1 h 58 min by car.
When is the best time to visit Orta San Giulio?
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 Orta San Giulio?
Mergozzo, Porto Ceresio and Dervio.
How many people live in Orta San Giulio?
1,047 at the 2023 count.
Is Orta San Giulio a good place to live?
By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Orta San Giulio is a village with a town of 5,000 people within 15 minutes (Gozzano, 6 min). The nearest city, Gallarate, is 37 min away by car. The nearest public hospital is in Omegna, 9 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 83% of homes.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 294 m
  • Population: 1,047
  • Surface area: 6.65 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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