Verbania

Verbania is a city on the promontory at the northern side of the entrance to the Borromean Bay, a western arm of Lake Maggiore in Piedmont, Italy. The city has several parts, as it was formed from the merger of several towns. Pallanza is in the south, on the end of the promontory. Suna is to the west along the bay. Intra is outside the bay, to the north of Pallanza, on the other side of a river, the Torrente San Bernardino. Verbania has a population of 30,000.

Get in

By train

Trains run from Milan, via Busto Arsizio and Gallarate (both near Milano Malpensa Airport) to Verbania Pallanza station. The station is several kilometres from the town – the half-hourly bus service run by VCO Trasporti between Omegna and Verbania stops at the station.

By bus

S.A.F. runs the Alibus from both terminals of Malpensa Airport, terminating at Verbania, seasonally Apr-Oct. Services are 2–3 hours apart. You must book by 11:00 the previous day (by 11:00 Sa for Monday trips). Buy tickets on board, cash only. €17.

By boat

Navigazione Laghi provides ferry services around Lake Maggiore. The most frequent passenger services are around the Borromean Bay, between Stresa, Baveno, the Borromean Islands and Verbania. There is a car ferry from Laveno-Mombello on the eastern side of Lake Maggiore to Intra.

See

• 1 Basilica di San Vittore, Via dei Ceretti, 4, Intra. A 17th-century basilica. 
• 2 Church of Madonna di Campagna, Viale Giuseppe Azari, 113. A 16th-century church. (updated Mar 2015)
• 3 Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto, Via Vittorio Veneto 111, Pallanza (opposite the Villa Taranto ferry pier). Daily 08:30am-18:30 (Oct-Nov: 09:00–16:00). Botanical gardens established between 1931 and 1940 by Scotsman Neil McEacharn. The 16 hectares contain 20,000 plant varieties, of 3,000 species. The villa itself is not open to the public. Adult €10, child €5.50. 
• 4 Landscape Museum (Museo del Paesaggio), Palazzo Viani-Dugnani, via Ruga, 44, Pallanza. Art museum consisting of several buildings. The Painting, Sculpture and Archaeology sections are in Palazzo Viani-Dugnani, a Baroque mansion house dating from the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The Popular Devotion section is in Palazzo Biumi-Innocenti, at Salita Biumi, 6, Pallanza. €8. (updated Jul 2024)
• 5 Church of San Remigio. A Romanesque oratory built in the 11th-12th centuries. (updated Jun 2019)
• 6 Riemann's tombstone. The tombstone of Bernhard Riemann, who died in Biganzolo and was buried in the old graveyard (which has been lost) is often visited by mathematicians from Europe. (updated Sep 2017)

Do

You can go climb the mountain and also swim at the lake.

Buy

Open-air market all of Saturday near the ferry dock at Intra. A variety of goods and food.

Eat

Try having fish or seafood cooked in the local style in trattorie.

Go next

• Baveno
• Stresa