Vogogna is a ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' (municipality) at the heart of the Val d’Ossola in the

Province of Verbano Cusio Ossola The province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola (, ) is a province in the Piedmont region of Italy. It was created in 1992 through the fusion of three geographical areas which had previously been part of the province of Novara. The area flanking the west ...

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, about north-west of

Verbania Verbania (, , ) is the most populous ''comune'' (municipality) and the capital city of the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy. It is situated on the shore of Lake Maggiore, about north-west of Milan and ab ...

. The municipality (population 1,785 as of 2010)Italian statistical institute

Istat The Italian National Institute of Statistics (; Istat) is the primary source of official statistics in Italy. The institute conducts a variety of activities, including the census of population, economic censuses, and numerous social, economic, a ...

. is centred on the town of Vogogna and extends over an area of , partly within the

Val Grande National Park Val Grande National Park () is a protected area located in Piedmont, in the north of Italy. It is most notable for landscapes of the High Alps. Geography The park is located in Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and is shared between ten municipali ...

; the elevation varies between above sea-level. Outlying settlements (''

frazioni A ''frazione'' (: ''frazioni'') is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' ('municipality') in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidat ...

'') within the municipality include Prata, Dresio and Genestredo. The surrounding municipalities are

Beura-Cardezza Beura-Cardezza is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northwest of Verbania. Beura-Cardezza borders the following municipalities: Domodoss ...

Pallanzeno Pallanzeno is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northwest of Verbania. Pallanzeno borders the following municipalities: Beura-Cardezza, ...

Piedimulera Piedimulera is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Italian region of Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northwest of Verbania. Piedimulera is described as a village located on the left bank ...

Pieve Vergonte Pieve Vergonte is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is about northwest of Verbania and northeast of Turin. Physical Geography Pieve Vergonte is located in Ossola Valley, lo ...

and

Premosello-Chiovenda Premosello-Chiovenda is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northwest of Verbania. Premosello-Chiovenda borders the following municipalit ...

. It is one of

I Borghi più belli d'Italia () is a non-profit private association of small Italian towns of strong historical and artistic interest, that was founded in March 2001 on the initiative of the Tourism Council of the National Association of Italian Municipalities, with the a ...

("The most beautiful villages of Italy").

Main sights

The Vogogna Castle, in via Castello, was built in 1344 for the

bishop of Novara The Diocese of Novara () is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Vercelli.Giovanni Visconti, and extended in 1449. Above the castle are the remains of the old rocca which dates from the ninth or tenth century. The Palazzo Pretorio, or ''

broletto A ''broletto'' in Italy in the Middle Ages, medieval Italy communes was the place where the whole population met for democratic assemblies, and where the elected men lived and administered justice. ''Broletto'' is an ancient Italian language, It ...

'', was constructed in 1348, also at the behest of Giovanni Visconti. The Sacro Cuore di Gesú is the parish church which was erected between 1894 and 1904 in a

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

style. San Pietro, in the ''frazione'' Dresio, is a church of ancient origins and contains two noted fifteenth-century

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

es; it has been suggested that the figure representing a

Servite The Servite Order, officially known as the Order of Servants of Mary (; abbreviation: OSM), is one of the five original mendicant orders in the Roman Catholic Church. It includes several branches of friars (priests and brothers), contemplative nun ...

saint has recently been identified as Pellegrino Laziosi, the most prominent saint of that order.

Twin towns — sister cities

Vogogna is twinned with: *

Lançon-Provence Lançon-Provence (; also known as Lançon-de-Provence) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France. Population See also *Communes of the Bouches-du-Rhône department The following is a list of the 119 communes ...

, France

References

External links

Official website
Cities and towns in Piedmont Borghi più belli d'Italia {{Verbania-geo-stub