 LUINO
Municipio Tel. 0332.543.511
Informazioni Turistiche Tel. 0332.530.019
Situated
on a wide plain on the mouth of Valtravaglia, Luino is the
most important town of the Lombardian shore. It is a typical
European town on the lake, with a Mediterranean habitat. It is
a commercial, industrial and tourist centre.  Here it is worth
visiting the international station, which links up the Italian pass
with the Swiss one. The contact with different cultures has always
given to Luino an independent and libertal mark, exalted by Garibaldi's
enterprise on the fifteenth of August, 1948, against the Austrians, and
by a proletarian rebellion for bread on the tenth of May 1898, the only
one in Varese. A liveliness for history and culture, with an inclination to
literature. With reference to the only XX century, the poet Vittorio
Sereni and the writer Piero Chiara, both of them, the well-known European
contemporary writers, were born here. Dario Fo lived here,  making
his début on the stage of "Teatro Sociale", at the beginning of a
career, which lead him to win "The Nobel Prize" in 1997, for literature.
Hernest Hemingway too mentions Luino in his famous romance
"Farewell to Arms". Probably at the end of XV century, even the
famous painter Bernardino Luini was born here. First of all you have
to walk along the promenade, counterpointed by gigantic plane trees,
around the little Napoleonic port, and delimited by harmonious
architectures. Here you have a beautiful view of  the lake. During
the promenade, you can admire: XV century church Madonna del
Carmine; XVIII century private Chapel Serbelloni and the adjoining
Palazzo Serbelloni; Palazzo Verbania, seat of the library, civic
museum, and even of the yearly succession of cultural events.
The walk in the historic centre is beautiful, the loggias of the backyards,
shops and craft shops and with the little roads going uphill to baroque
and Renaissance palaces. Here you can taste the flavour of the
antique village. On the hills, behind the town, residential tourist
neighbourhood have developed. Plunged in the green, there is
a beautiful panoramic view. On the shore, halfway to Maccagno,
you can find the little and quiet village of Colmegna, a tourist resort
for its wide view over the lake. The ex Villa Cicogna,  as a balcony,
looks onto the waters of Lago Maggiore with its luxuriant park. In Luino,
you do not have to miss the market on Wednesday. People come even
from Switzerland, Germany, France, Holland with bus/coach to visit it.
The stalls fill the main roads of the town, which are full of tourists looking
for a good shopping. Every kind of goods are offered by shouting men
and sellers. It is a picturesque, coloured, folksy, cosmopolitan
spectacle, dating back to XVI century.
© Edizioni Marwan
Fotografie: Mario Parietti
Redazione: Roberto Stangalini |
|
