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At first glance, the small lakeside town of Orta – located roughly 70 km north of Milan at the foot of the Italian Alps – comes across as a typical Instagram town: beautiful …

"Lakeside Trail of Orta"

… but perhaps a little too confident in the expectation that her many admirers will be so dazzled by her looks (and lakeside views) …

Lakeside Trail of Orta

… that they will gallantly forgive her a long list of character flaws.

Such as the lack of a grocery shop – and of a bakery that opens before 9 o’clock in the morning. Or the absence of affordable places to eat.

And of a willingness to operate even a rudimentary public transport system: there is no bus connection between Orta-Miasino train station and Orta town, and unless you have someone to pick you up from the station (or are lucky enough to catch one of the rare taxis), you are facing a rather long and not overly pleasant walk.

But once you get to look behind the lakeside facade that Orta presents to the hurried and inattentive visitors, you will find that there is, after all, a beautiful and tender soul hidden under that gruff demeanour.

"Lakeside Trail of Orta"

If you want Orta to open up for you and show you her pleasant self, however, you have to make a bit of an effort, shunning the lazy lakeside promenade so beloved by Orta’s many visitors and head straight for the hill in her back. Per aspera ad astra, as they say.

Several paths and stairways lead up the hill that overlooks the town and Lake Orta. Coming from the town centre, the most direct way leads you to the left of the parish church of Maria Assunta and through the upper part of the village …

… to a narrow street called Via Palma.

When Via Palma forks, you must stay on the left branch that will soon merge into Via Panoramica – a road which, despite its promising name, is actually not that panoramic and was certainly not conceived with people in mind who have come here to enjoy its views at leisure.

After a ten-minute walk down this busy highway, you will get a view of Villa Crespi, one of Italy’s most famous gourmet restaurants whose price list manages to leave even the other eateries of Orta gasping for breath.

Soon after Villa Crespi comes into view, you should look out for an iron stairway. This stairway leads you down to a small country lane which takes you straight to Lake Orta.

If you miss the stairway, this is no great drama but you will have to continue down the road until the next intersection, take a left turn and then walk all the way back on a different street.

Either way: as soon as you see the lake, you will instantly agree that the long schlep along the Via Panoramica was well worth your troubles.

Now turn left for what may be the best hour that you can spend in Orta: the walk down the local lungolago or lakeside trail …

"Lakeside Trail of Orta"

… that allows you to experience Lake Orta in all its magnificence and splendour.

The trail has two distinctive parts: at first, you will walk past handsome villas on your left, above all the 19th century Villa Curioni-Mazzetti where the bohemian Curioni family entertained on a grand scale during the years before WWI …

… and, on your right, scenic views across the little bay that separates the Orta peninsula from the opposite lakeshore.

Then, when you round the little “cape”at the cusp of the promontory, …

"Lakeside Trail of Orta"

… you can look far into the northern section of the lake towards the town of Omegna.

"Lakeside Trail of Orta"

Having rounded the little cape, you will enter the home stretch of the lakeside trail of Orta. The footpath will soon merge into the Via Ettore Motta, the high street of Orta, that will take you back to the town centre in no time at all.

One final word on the topic of Orta’s restaurants. There is, in principle, nothing wrong about restaurants that are more pricey than others, even when some of those restaurants are very pricey indeed.

If, however, you come to a place where all restaurants are equally pricey, you have no way to tell which ones are expensive because they know they can get away with overcharging their customers and which ones are actually offering value for money.

So if you, on balance, decide you want to stick with cheap restaurants in Orta, you basically only have a choice between two places: one is Ca Mea, located on a small square just off Orta High Street (Italian home cooking), and the other is the pizzeria La Campana on the other end of town (on Via Giovanetti), which is conservatively priced for a pizzeria, any pizzeria, never mind one in a town where you will find it difficult to dine for under 50 bucks a head.

Going one level up in style and price, we happily pass on our landlord’s recommendation for a place called La Motta. We had a good diner there and paid only a little more than we would have paid for a similar meal in an ordinary country town.

To get to La Motta, just climb the road to the Santa Assunta parish church and look left. Buon appetito!

Now that you are well fed, we will tell you next week where to go in Orta to work off some of those calories. See you then!

Planning a trip to the Piedmont region of Italy? Try not to miss a walk along the lakeside trail of Orta!

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