A26 toll motorway in the direction of Gravellona Toce. Exit at Baveno – Stresa and continue to Verbania.

The Museo del Paesaggio (“Landscape Museum”) of Verbania is one of the focal points of the local artistic heritage, with the most important collection of painting and sculpture in the area.  It was founded in 1909 by Antonio Massara, a man of letters and popular culture, with the intention of highlighting the scenic beauty of the Lake Maggiore area through art.

The Museum is housed in three separate buildings: Palazzo Viani Dugnani, Palazzo Biumi Innocenti and Casa Ceretti.

Palazzo Viani Dugnani, in Verbania Pallanza, contains paintings by major local artists such as Daniele Ranzoni, Achille Tominetti, Carlo Fornara and Mario Tozzi. These pictures, of rare beauty, date from a period starting in the second half of the 19th century, when Romanticism was followed by the “Scapigliatura” movement and by Symbolism.

Sculpture is also on display in Palazzo Viani Dugnani, particularly works by Arturo Martini and Paolo Troubetzkoy, who was a major figure in the history of Verbania. Born in Intra in 1866 to a family of Russian origin, Troubetzkoy had exhibitions all over Italy and abroad; the Russian State Museum in Moscow still displays his statue of Emperor Alexander III, commissioned in 1900.

Palazzo Viani Dugnani also houses the archaeology section of the museum, with its collection of Greek and Roman artefacts, but above all Celtic and Roman grave goods found at Ornavasso in the Ossola Valley.

Opening hours: Thursday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed Monday to Wednesday.

Prices: 8 euros full - 5 euros reduced

Palazzo Biumi-Innocenti, also in Pallanza, contains an extensive collection of votive paintings and small sacred pictures of the 16th to the 20th centuries, from all over Italy and other parts of the world.Booking required.

Lastly, Casa Ceretti, in Verbania Intra,  the recently restored house of the painter Elide Ceretti, offers an exhibition and meeting space for all local artists, as well as teaching workshops, a painting studio and an art café.