Varesotto
Varesotto is the least attractive, but the richest province of the lake region. This large industrial district produces everything, from shoes and silk to helicopters. Three lakes in the province are severely contaminated, and in addition, because they lie on the plain, do not stand up to competition with the richness of the landscape of nearby Maggiore and Como. Provincial capital, Varese, is only important because of the convenient train and bus connections to more interesting places, like. Castiglione Olona or Castelseprio.
Varese
VARESE is a nice garden city, marble villas from the fifties and rectangular buildings from the Mussolini era, on the outskirts of which are the shoe factories located. Its inhabitants are equally allergic to their appearance, like the Milanese and look almost as perfect, like mannequins in the shop windows of expensive shops along the main street, Corso Matteotti.
On the central square of the city, Monte Grappa, AAST office is located (Mon-Fri. 8.30-12.30 and 14.00-18.45, Sb. 9.00-12.00 and 15.00-18.00). It directs tourists to the main attraction of the city, which is the French garden (into 17.00 in winter and up to 18.00 in summer), located behind the built in the eighteenth century for the princely family Este of Modena long, pink Palazzo Estense. In April or October you can meet in Varese many foreigners, also Americans, who come here on the occasion of fashion shows in Milan. The proximity of the regional capital also means, that most hotels are geared towards rich customers, for which their parent companies pay. However, there are two cheaper hotels: Bologna, Via Broggi 7 (corner Via G. Verati; *0332/234362), has double rooms included in the price 25 OOOL, while overnight in the Stadio Hotel located a little further away, Via Bolchini 24 (*0332/224069), in rooms even four-bed costs 15 OOOL, and the neighboring restaurant offers corporate lunches for 9000L.
Surroundings of Varese: Castiglione Olona and Castelseprio
The route of one of the most interesting excursions, which can be led with Varese, leads to a lying distance of only 20 minutes by bus (# B45 from Piazza Kennedy) Renaissance in the style of the village CASTIGLIONE OLONA. It was built in the fifteenth century by Cardinal Branda Castiglione under the influence of architecture, he saw in Florence. The collegiate church and baptistery located on the top are decorated by Masaccia's student., Masolino, easily legible frescoes. Further frescoes are located in casa dei Castiglioni on a quiet, the main square of the city. One of them presents Vesprem in Hungary, as described to Masolin by the Cardinal, who spent some time there as a bishop. Castiglione Olona comes to life on the first Sunday of the month, when there is a flea market here.
Further along the bus route # B45 CASTELSEPRIO is less interesting, although it is worth seeing the local church of Santa Maria Foris Portas, which was erected in the VII century. The interior is decorated with an exotic Byzantine cycle of frescoes The Childhood of Christ, which was discovered during the last war by a partisan hiding in the church.
North of Varese: Tours
More attractive than the three lakes near Varese is indented deep into the Valganna Valley (near the Swiss border) mountain pond Lago di Ghirla. On the opposite side of the B37 road there is a campsite, from where many difficult excursion routes begin.
For lovers of easier walks, the trails leading through the fields and forests north of Varese are better, the most interesting of which leads to MACCAGNO on Lago Maggiore. Starts in PORTO CERESIO, at the foot of Lago Lugano (near the Swiss border), and it takes ten days to walk the entire trail (you can of course choose only a part of the route). Via Verde Varesina brochure available in local bookstores (only in Italian) contains useful information on how to reach different points of the route by public transport and about hotels and restaurants. Maps, on the other hand, have inaccurate and if someone does not know the language enough, to understand the descriptions of the trail, he needs a different map.