Laveno

Lake Maggiore

Laveno Mombello is situated in a large natural bay of Lake Maggiore, and is a point of connection with the Piedmont side through its marina and its picturesque pier, from which year-round ferry transportation with cars for Verbania-Intra . Very close is the railway station,directly connected to the city of Milan, and is the starting point for private connections to the Malpensa International Airport, which is about 40 minutes from the town center. You may enjoy a wonderful view of the lake and the Pre-Alps, and the lowland extending up to Milan if you take the cable car above the village, in which you reach the summit of Mount Sasso del Ferro, launch point for lovers of hang gliding and paragliding.

In a few minutes by car there are tourist and cultural interest such as Cerro Laveno with the International Museum of Ceramics, Castelveccana,that is considered the Portofino of Lake Maggiore,with its fortress, Leggiuno with the spectacular Eremo of Santa Caterina overlooking the lake, the islands Borromeo (Isola Bella, Isola Madre and Isola dei Pescatori), the Sacromonte of Varese (UNESCO world heritage) with the picturesque stroll through the art Chapels, the beautiful Rocca Borromeo of Angera, Lake Varese with Isolino Virginia and the museum Ponti (remains of civilizations’ of the pile), Gavirate with the Cloister of Voltorre, Gemonio with the house-museum of the famous sculptor Floriano Bodini, and more. Many are the bike lanes between the green landscape of valcuvia and around the Lake Varese.

 Storia e curiosità

The municipality of Laveno Mombello is the tourist capital of the eastern shore of Lake Maggiore, it covers an area of ​​25 square kilometers at 200 m above sea level and is home to approximately 10,000 residents. Beside Laveno Mombello and Cerro, there are other villages as Ceresolo and Ponte, and scenic spots and beautiful hills as the Cascine (490 m), Monteggia (394 m), Casere (768 m). Montecristo and Brena (334 m).

Mombello is the oldest, as the traces of primitive settlements (3000 BC) in the hilly area of ​​Torbiera, while Laveno and Cerro are from the Roman era. It appears that the name Laveno derives from the Roman general Tito Labieno, who was opposed to the Gauls on the heights of Mombello (“Mons belli” or “Mountain of War”). The Romans were followed by the Lombards and the Franks, then the Visconti, the Sforza, the Borromeo and Besozzi .. After the Spanish domination, Laveno passed to the Austrians, whose dominion surpassed also the Napoleonic period. But is May 30, 1859 the most glorious dare if his history, when the country was the scene of the battles of Giuseppe Garibaldi, who with the troops of the Hunters of the Alps was rejected twice by the Austrians. Evidence of the event remain today in the ossuary of the Tower of the Castle,that is the fort overlooking the bay of Cerro,and in the barracks of Punta San Michele, today house of the Sailing Club East Verbano.