Pella: Historic Bridge, Churches and Trails

Pella can be explored through traces of the medieval settlement, churches and trails through the surrounding area.

Bridge and local history on the Pellino

The Ponte sul Pellino is an arch bridge dating from 1578. It bears the inscription “Magrioha-ninusde rugis fecit” and formerly served as a connection to the nearby San Rocco cemetery. A single tower from Pella’s medieval defensive system has survived on the lakeside promenade near Piazza Motta. It is privately owned and visible from the outside.

Churches, chapels and artistic heritage

The San Filiberto complex includes the oldest chapel on the western shore of Lake Orta, built around the 11th century. The complex is surrounded by fourteen chapels dating from 1794 that depict the Stations of the Cross. The complex also includes a Romanesque bell tower dated to between 1075 and 1110.

In Alzo stands Villa Durio, a 16th-century building with fresco-decorated arcades in the courtyard. In Pella, the Monumento agli Scalpellini commemorates granite working, once the predominant craft of the area’s population. The former Cartiera Sonzogno used the water of the Pellino to drive two dynamos, which supplied electricity to the factory and some of the village’s streetlights. Until 1907, the Sonzogno paper mill employed more than one hundred workers and produced paper for the Milanese Sonzogno publishing house.

Churches in the village and hamlets

The parish church Chiesa Parrocchiale di Sant'Albino in Pella has a granite lintel bearing the year of construction, 1591. To the right of the entrance is Perraccino’s painting “La Presentazione”. The Oratorio di San Giulio is also known as Natività di Maria Santissima and is a small church in the woods of the hamlet of Ronco Sopra.

Routes between Pella, streams and old mule tracks

On the Scala Santa route, after about 800 metres you reach a wooden bridge over the Pellesina stream; after another 500 metres, you arrive behind the church of Pella. The Pella–Centonara route begins beside this church on a mule track towards Ventraggia. In Ronco Sotto, the Chiesa di San Defendente is a historic testament to the movement of artists along the old mule track between Valsesia or Colma and the lake.

Islands, peaks and museums in the surrounding area

Near Pella are Isola San Giulio, an island, and Monte Trevigno, a peak. The surrounding area also includes Monte Piogera and Monte Vesso, both peaks, as well as Museo Meina, Arteadarona and the Museo Archeologico, each a museum. In the wider regional area around Pella is Museo “Come Eravamo”, also a museum.

Further destinations for your regional orientation: Comignago, Borgomanero, Bolzano Novarese, Lesa, Silvera, Barengo, Borgo Ticino and Varallo Pombia.

For the higher-level travel overview: Novara.