Vogogna is 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 ...

'' (municipality) at the heart of the

Val d’Ossola The Ossola (, also Valle Ossola or Val d’Ossola) is an area of Italy situated to the north of Lago Maggiore. It lies within the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola. Its principal river is the Toce, and its most important town Domodossola. Et ...

in the

Province of Verbano Cusio Ossola A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

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

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 ...

, 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 ( it, Istituto nazionale di statistica; Istat) is the main producer of official statistics in Italy. Its activities include the census of population, economic censuses and a number of social, economic ...

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

Val Grande National Park Val Grande National Park ( it, Parco Nazionale della Val Grande) is a protected area located in Piedmont, in the north of Italy, at the border with Switzerland. It is most notable for landscapes of the High Alps. Geography The park is located in P ...

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

frazioni A ''frazione'' (plural: ) 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 Italy (1922–1943), Fascist era (1922–1943) as ...

'') 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 Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northwest of Verbania. Piedimulera is described as a village located on the left bank of ...

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. Geography Pieve Vergonte lies in the valley of Ossola where the ...

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 municipaliti ...

Main sights

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

bishop of Novara The Diocese of Novara ( la, Dioecesis Novariensis) is a Roman Catholic diocese 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 In Middle Age Communes in Italy, a broletto 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 word, from medieval Latin "broilum, bro ...

'', 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, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

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

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' 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 plaste ...

es; it has been suggested that the figure representing a

Servite The Servite Order, officially known as the Order of Servants of Mary ( la, Ordo Servorum Beatae Mariae Virginis; abbreviation: OSM), is one of the five original Catholic mendicant orders. It includes several branches of friars (priests and brothe ...

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 of ...

, France

References

External links

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