By car: from the A26 exit at Arona, turn left and then after 1.5 km turn right, following the signs for Invorio. When you get to Invorio Inferiore, leave your car near the petrol station on the road to Invorio Superiore. The road to Barro, surfaced only for a short stretch, is close by. After about 15 mins there is a crossroads; turn left, and left again at the next fork to take the path up the hill.
By train: the nearest railway station is Oleggio Castello.
Monte Barro
Invorio
How to get
About
A walk to Monte Barro is perfect for anyone who loves woodlands and the atmosphere of an ancient rural civilization.
The ancient settlement that lies almost at the top of Monte Barro (581 m) has Medieval origins and grew up around the church of Santa Maria Annunziata, which was probably built on the ruins of a castle. A stone inside the apse bears the date 1484.
The houses are built of local stone, with stone outside stairs and wooden balconies, and huddle close together. The people who lived here worked in the fields and tended the vineyards. The last inhabitant left in 1977, but the original appearance of the village is still exemplified by the Ca’ de la Rusin, a house with a small front yard bordered by a low wall.
Monte Barro comes to life on the 1 May each year with the traditional Flower Festival, an ancient folk festival that evokes the exchange of bunches of flowers by lovers. Nowadays it is an occasion for the people of Invorio to have a spring jaunt into the countryside; a convivial pilgrimage to the little church of Monte Barro is followed by a picnic lunch on the hill.
More details
Comune di Invorio
www.comune.invorio.no.it/chiesabarro
www.comune.invorio.no.it/chiesabarro