Macugnaga (

Walser German Walser German (german: Walserdeutsch) and Walliser German (, locally ) are a group of Highest Alemannic dialects spoken in parts of Switzerland (Valais, Ticino, Grisons), Italy (Piedmont, Aosta Valley), Liechtenstein (Triesenberg, Planken), an ...

: ''Z'Makana'') is a mountain village and a

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

at elevation, in the

province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola Verbano-Cusio-Ossola (Italian: ''Provincia del Verbano Cusio Ossola'' ) is the northernmost province in the Italian region of Piedmont. It was created in 1992 through the fusion of three geographical areas which had previously been part of the Pr ...

, in the north of the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

region of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

It is located at the base of

Monte Rosa : , other_name = Monte Rosa massif , translation = Mount Rose , photo = Dufourspitze (Monte Rosa) and Monte Rosa Glacier as seen from Gornergrat, Wallis, Switzerland, 2012 August.jpg , photo_caption = Central Mon ...

(), the second-tallest mountain in western Europe, along

Valle Anzasca The Anza is a Alpine torrent of the Ossola in northern Italy. It flows from the glaciers of Monte Rosa : , other_name = Monte Rosa massif , translation = Mount Rose , photo = Dufourspitze (Monte Rosa) and Monte Ro ...

, one of the seven valleys around the mount. Sights in the town include the Chiesa Vecchia (old church) and its linden also of the 13th century, the ''Chiesa Nuova'' (new church) built in 1707, the 17th century ''Casa Pala''. The town also houses a museum of mountaineering, while in the hamlet of Borca is the

Walser The Walser people are the speakers of the Walser German dialects, a variety of Highest Alemannic. They inhabit the region of the Alps of Switzerland and Liechtenstein, as well as the fringes of Italy and Austria. The Walser people are named af ...

Museum, devoted to the local German population who colonised the valley during the Middle Ages coming from the Swiss canton Wallis. Macugnaga parrocchiale

The area gives many opportunities for skiing in winter (a cableway brings from the central square of the town to the 3000 m (9800 ft) of the Passo del Monte Moro on the border with Switzerland), and hiking and mountaineering in summer. There are a swimming pool, a tennis centre, and a football field for sport activities. The village is also known for its mine ( Miniera della Guia).

Geography

The territory is characterised by numerous rivers, some of which are Horlovono, Pedriola, Tambach, Testa / Tieschtbach, Quarazza / Kratz and Val Rossa, all of them coming from Anza / Vispu. This last one is born from the union between the Belvedere Glacier. A lot of small lakes can be found around the village, as well as a dam, known as ''Lago delle Fate'' (lake of the fairies).

Dorf

The Dorf is an area of the village of Macugnaga, located near the Old Church and its cemetery, where the ancient huts made of

larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furt ...

trunks, in which the Walser community used to live, are located. The houses followed the style of the Nordic populations: they were made of larch wood to protect its inhabitants from the cold weather. They were equipped with a stove together with an oven, there was also a kitchen, two bedrooms and a cellar. In the most recent structures, the kitchen was built in brickwork to prevent the risk of fires. Other buildings, apart from the houses, can include farmhouses with a stable and a barn. In the Dorf, there is also a traditional stone bakery oven which was used by the Walser people once a year to bake bread. It was an important moment for the community to ensure food supplies in the following months.

Twin cities

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Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

Predeal Predeal (; hu, Predeál) is a town in Brașov County, Transylvania, Romania. Predeal, a mountain resort town, is the highest town in Romania. It is located in the Prahova Valley at an elevation of over . The town administers three villages: ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

References

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Cities and towns in Piedmont {{Verbania-geo-stub