Which are the best and easiest Lake Maggiore hiking trails that can give you the most breathtaking panoramic view? Carmine Superiore is a real jewel overlooking the lake. A village reachable only on foot with an unparalleled view of Lake Maggiore. Carmine Superiore is a village with no cars!
Carmine Superiore was founded in the Middle Ages and nowadays is a hamlet of Cannobio, Piedmont Verbano shore: it faces the Veddasca mountains, almost opposite the Lombard village of Monteviasco. Carmine Superiore is a place lost in time and can be reached only by a mule track.
Carmine Superiore is a just few houses, but the frescoed church, the arches between houses, the balcony that was once a cemetery show us that it was a real village, not a temporary mountain pasture.
How to reach Carmine Superiore on a Lake Maggiore Hiking experience
It starts from Carmine Inferiore, a few buildings along the lake road: coming from Verbania, the few houses are anticipated by a parking lot where you can leave your car. The path starts next to a house, it is well indicated by the red-and-white hiking signs: don’t be fooled by the first ramp with ugly concrete steps, soon after the path becomes a small stone-paved road.
You first climb between a few former vacation homes: a few palm trees remind us that the lake was an exotic Mediterranean place for Germans and Swiss. In a couple of places a little chapel or a bench offer a chance to stop and look or catch your breath (if you’re not used to it, but the road is short).
After a fifteen-minute walk you suddenly come out in front of the church of St. Gotthard, perched on the rock and arranged on three levels built between 1332 and 1431.
Through a stained-glass window you can admire the amazing frescoes (unfortunately the church is closed).
Outside, the old cemetery has become a balcony overlooking the Maggiore, with views of Maccagno and the villages that step up the Val Veddasca, Luino glimpsed to the right. There are also many frescoes on the exterior, discovered in 1933: saints, bishops, the three wise men who are loaded with gifts presenting themselves to the baby Jesus.
Around the church there are a few houses, mostly recovered as weekend and summer houses. There are arches, a few flower pots.
There is no bar, no restaurant, in Carmine, just the alleys and this amazing view: a real haven of piece out of the bustle and hustle of everyday life. It’s highly recommended to bring packed lunch to enjoy the view at best!
If you want to go to a restaurant for lunch you can go on to get to Cannero (50 minutes) or Cannobio (1h 20′).
Or to have another stunning view you can just get to the end of the village, to the last houses: you are at the height of the beola roofs, one next to the other. Immediately behind, some meadows open up, persimmon tree offer the most intense colors in autumn. Beyond the stone roofs fill your eyes with beauty and gaze at the all-round 360 panoramic view between Switzerland and the Borromean Islands.
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