Lake Maggiore is surrounded by mountains offering a variety of landscapes which has few equals in the world. Within a radius of 50 km the green hills around the lake give way to glaciers and peaks of over 4,000 metres.  Soaring above the other mountains is the massif of Monte Rosa, the second highest in the Alps at an altitude of 4,633 metres.

Not far from Villa Rusconi-Clerici is one of the entrances to the Val Grande National Park, the most extensive wild area in the Alps. The park offers a wealth of trails for hikes of one or more days in a setting of unspoiled nature.

Winter sports come into their own in the snowy season.  The Lake Maggiore tourist area includes several ski resorts - Macugnaga, San Domenico, Domobianca, Val Formazza, Alpe Devero, Valle Vigezzo – which are a paradise for lovers of Alpine and Nordic skiing, ski mountaineering, snowboarding and snowshoeing.  With snow lying late into the spring, the plateau of Riale in the upper Formazza valley is a centre of Nordic ski training for national teams from many parts of the world.

And if you would like to ski with a view of the lake, don’t miss an excursion to the top of Mottarone, the mountain above Stresa (cable car service from Stresa).

For further information:
- Illagomaggiore.com
- Discoveryalps.it