Vogogna lies in the middle of the Val d'Ossola and first appears in a notarial deed of 970. It stayed a farming village until a flood destroyed Pietrasanta: the seat of the Lower Ossola passed here, with the Quattro Terre of Masera, Trontano, Beura and Cardezza under it. In 1348 the Visconti put up the castle and the Palazzo Pretorio, whose pointed arcade held market and assemblies.
The coat of arms carries a blacksmith's tools, for the nearby mines. In the courtyard of San Pietro, at Dresio, a soapstone mask was set into a fountain: a man's face that some trace back to a Celtic woodland god. It is now in the castle.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
Near Vogogna
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Places to see within 25 km
Outside Vogogna, but an easy day trip away.