Art and culture

Several museums on Lake Maggiore and in the Ossola relate the history and culture of a land profoundly attached to its traditions. A major museum is the Landscape Museum of Verbania, which has collections of landscape paintings, sculpture, folk piety and archaeological finds.

Not far from Verbania, in Ghiffa, is the Hat Museum, which tells the story of Italian glamour, while Gignese above Stresa is famous for its Umbrella Museum. Moving to the Ossola, the Vigezzo Valley has a surprising Chimney Sweep Museum and the Rossetti Valentini Art Gallery, both in Santa Maria Maggiore. The Anzasca Valley offers the Guja Gold Mine and the Walser House Museum of Macugnaga.