East Piedmont: Vercelli and Novara
It is difficult to imagine a landscape less Italian than the region east of Turin. On a completely flat plain, through which the road and railway line to Milan lead, there are hugegriding fields, giving the most rice in Europe. For half a year, these fields are under water (in winter they are poured with warm water), and they look most beautiful in autumn, when the gentle sun illuminates the fog and reflects off the stem-filled water.
Regardless of the season, newcomers quickly get bored with the local landscape and willingly go to Milan or Turin, or north, via Novara and Vercelli to Val Sesia. This valley ends on the slopes of Monte Rosa, at the Swiss border.
Vercelli
VERCELLI is the center of Piedmont, as well as the European rice growing area. It's always full of businessmen, who argue about prices on Borsa di Riso (rice exchange). Having some free time, you can visit the Basilica of SantWndrea, located opposite the railway station. It was erected in the thirteenth century by a cardinal, who for the help shown to Henry III in the conquest of the English throne, received the right to income from a monastery in Cambridge County and allocated it to the construction of the temple. Because these revenues were huge, It took only nine years to complete the basilica, which seems unbelievable compared to sometimes lasting more than 100 years of construction of other churches. Today, the basilica has an important position in the history of Italian architecture. It is one of the oldest churches in the country with Gothic elements: sharp arcs, slender columns reaching the vault and standing on both sides of the façade, High, Light, towers with bells topped with conical roofs.
The most pleasant place in Vercelli is Piazza Cavour, surrounded by patina-covered arcades. It is located just off the main Corso Liberta and is the site of a weekly (Tuesday) fair. Near, on Via Borgogna, houses the large Museo Borgogna (in summer Tue. and Thu. 15.00-17.00; in winter 14.30-16.30; all year round sun. 10.00-12.00), which, in addition to the works of relatively little-known local artists, it also has works by Brueghl and Jan Steen and a collection of frescoes from local churches.
Finding a spare room in Vercelli can be difficult, as hotels are often full of representatives of European companies interested in rice trade and participants of industrial fairs in nearby Turin. So it is better to call in advance and make a reservation. The cheapest is located at the bus station (two minutes from the train station) grand hotel San Francisco, Corso Gastaldi 15 ( 0161/53835), where double rooms without bathroom cost only 20000 L.
Natomiast Albergo Yalsesia, on Via G. Ferraris (• 0161/53842) is admittedly shabby, but conveniently located. For double rooms without bathroom you pay here 33 500 L, and for a full meal 12000 L.
Novara
NOVARA is located from Vercelli by 20 minutes by train on the railway route towards Milan. Much more suitable than Vercelli as a place to stay. Its main street paved with semicircular stones, Corso Cavour, abounds in pasticceries and old-fashioned tea houses. There is not much left of the historical Novara today. Medieval Broletto houses an open-air cinema in summer, and a huge Duomo, at which everything else seems stunted, is a building in the neoclassical style. Inside there are remnants of earlier churches: a fifth-century baptistery with frescoes from the tenth century depicting scenes from the Apocalypse and a chapel from the twelfth century covered with frescoes (both historic sites are only open in the morning). A few streets away, towards the north, the original three-level dome of the Church of San Gaudenzio emerges, whose spire resembles a syringe, towers over the whole city. The church is the work of the nineteenth-century architect Antonelli, who is also the creator of another unconventional project, Mole Synagogue in Turin.
The most convenient hotel in the city is located opposite the Moderno train station (• 0321/29864), with double rooms without bathroom included in the price 35 000 L. Le Tre Laterne pizzeria is also inexpensive, at Via dei Tornelli (right next to Piazza Gramsci, at the end of Corso Cavour).