A Moorish-style villa with its own minaret above Lake Orta, offering fourteen suites and Antonino Cannavacciuolo's restaurant under the same roof.
Check dates: Villa CrespiA medieval village on a wooded promontory of Lake Orta, gazing out at the Isola San Giulio with its ancient basilica and silent convent of Benedictine nuns.
Go in April to June and September to October.
- Province
- Novara
- People
- 1,200
Above the rooftops climbs the Sacro Monte, a UNESCO woodland path of chapels devoted to Saint Francis.
Where to stay in Orta San Giulio
Twenty lake-view apartments on a hillside vineyard above Orta San Giulio, with breakfast brought to the room and a terrace restaurant.
Check dates: La Darbia ResortOn the promontory above Orta San Giulio, a hotel with a garden pool and a panoramic terrace restaurant facing the island of San Giulio.
Check dates: Hotel Ristorante La BussolaHOTEL Bocciolo
A small hotel a few steps from the lake on Via Domodossola, within walking distance of the Sacro Monte, with some lake-view rooms.
Check dates: HOTEL Bocciolo
Other places to stay
Hotel Fontaine Bleue
A small lakeside hotel on Via Novara about three kilometres from Orta's centre, with free parking and a restaurant terrace over the water.
Hotel San Rocco
A former convent on the lakeshore a short walk from Piazza Motta, with a garden pool facing the island of San Giulio.
Search any of these on Booking.com by name, or browse the rooms in Orta San Giulio.
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At the table in Piedmont
Agnolotti monferrini enclose a filling of beef, veal, ham and Savoy cabbage in thin pasta.
Arneis
Tables
Filo Fieno
A rustic restaurant on Via Olina in Orta San Giulio, with daily country cooking from local produce and organic and biodynamic wines.
Trattoria
Al Boeuc
A small, intimate wine bar on Via Bersani, the old main street of Orta San Giulio, for local wines and simple plates.
Trattoria
Villa Crespi (opens in a new tab)
Antonino Cannavacciuolo's flagship in a Moorish-style villa by Lake Orta, for intense, Campanian-rooted tasting menus under ornate ceilings.
Three Michelin stars
Al Sorriso (opens in a new tab)
The Valazza family's restaurant in the Novara hills, for refined classic Italian cooking and a host who knows his wines and cheeses.
One Michelin star · Preva
Andrea Monesi - Locanda di Orta
Andrea Monesi's small restaurant in the centre of Orta San Giulio, with creative seafood and Piedmont meat and three little terraces worth requesting.
One Michelin star
Cannavacciuolo by the Lake (opens in a new tab)
The restaurant of Laqua by the Lake in Pettenasco, for Mediterranean cooking with a Neapolitan streak and a summer terrace over Lake Orta.
One Michelin star
When to visit Orta San Giulio
Average highs and lows across the year.
What to see first
Sacro Monte di Orta
Orta's hillside sanctuary of twenty frescoed chapels retelling Saint Francis's life above the lake.
Read the guideWhere next
Stresa
About 15 km as the crow flies. Lake Maggiore resort, Isola Bella, Borromeo gardens.
The Stresa guideHotels in Stresa opens in a new tab
Booking through these links may earn Italia Magnifica a commission, at no cost to you.
Booking through these links may earn Italia Magnifica a commission, at no cost to you.
