In 1796 Napoleon passed through Oleggio and found in the square that his carriage would not fit: the arcades on the east side came too far forward. He had them removed, except those on the square, which are still there; and while the work was done he lodged at Palazzo Bellini.
The town has 13,650 residents, halfway between Novara and Lake Maggiore. Inside the cemetery stands the Romanesque church of San Michele, mentioned as early as 973: the painted cycles on the inner façade and in the apse are among the few examples of Romanesque painting left in northern Italy.
The patrons are Saints Peter and Paul and the feast falls on 29 June; the parish church that carries their names was designed in neoclassical style by Alessandro Antonelli, the architect of the Mole in Turin, and built between 1853 and 1858.
There are three hypotheses about the town's name and none is proved: from Olesin, «hill on the Ticino»; from V Legio, the fifth legion, which in dialect would have become Vlegio; or from ulivetum, because olive trees once grew here in numbers. The castle of Oleggio appears in a document of April 982, and the Monday market has for centuries been the commercial meeting point of the area, above all for livestock.
chiesa di San Michele · Museo civico archeologico etnografico Carlo Giacomo Fanchini · chiesa dei Santi Apostoli Pietro e Paolo and 3 more
24 places to stay · top rated: 3 Rooms, 15 minuti da Malpensa, Parking, Self check in 9.9 · A casa di Marzia - 1 9.8
Next up: Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Tuesday 29 June
Nearest airport: Milano Malpensa, 8 km away
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📅 Every year, on 29 June
On 29 June Oleggio celebrates Saints Peter and Paul in Alessandro Antonelli's church, which in the 16th century took the place of the old pieve of San Michele.
📅 Every year, at Easter
The Easter palio, with over four hundred figures in Renaissance costume and the races in piazza Martiri.
chiesa di San Michele A Romanesque basilica recorded in 973, with eleventh-century frescoes among the few left in northern Italy. 
Museo civico archeologico etnografico Carlo Giacomo Fanchini The largest ethnographic museum in the Novara area: over 100,000 items, reconstructed rooms and Golasecca find 
chiesa dei Santi Apostoli Pietro e Paolo Alessandro Antonelli's parish church, built between 1853 and 1858: three naves and no bell tower. 
santuario della Beata Vergine Assunta di Loreto A sanctuary designed by Pellegrino Tibaldi: a Counter-Reformation façade and a canvas attributed to Morazzone. 
palazzo Bellini A neoclassical palace reworked by Melchioni: a courtyard with paired columns and mythological frescoes. 
Ponte di Oleggio An iron bridge of 1887-1889, 187.5 metres long: the only American-style lattice truss left in Italy. Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Oleggio, but an easy day trip away.
