Vercelli - Piemonte Feel

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Provincia di Vercelli

From rice to "Rosa"

“Land and water. Land and history”. With these few words we could define the lands of the province of Vercelli, which includes the whole length of the Sesia River, from its source on Monte Rosa to the Po, and embraces an immense variety of natural settings, as well as some very interesting art and architecture, testimony to its long history. Rice fields extend, mile after mile, over Vercelli’s wide flat plain, creating subtly beautiful effects of light and colour in all the seasons of the year. In winter the dominant colours are shades of brown; in spring the lands comes to life, water floods into the fields to form one vast mirror, reflecting trees, sky, clouds; summer is the season of the brilliant green of the young rice shoots: in autumn the rice plants, ripe and ready for harvest, have turned a deep gold. Today all the work in the rice field is mechanized, but the memory of times when the planting and harvesting were done by hand is still alive. An accurate and moving record of those times is provided by Giuseppe de Sanctis’ classic film Riso Amaro (Bitter Rice 1948). Filmed almost entirely in the country around Vercelli, on the Veneria di Lignano farmstead in particular, it tells the story of a group of young women working in the rice fields and stars the great actress Silvana Mangano.The Vercelli plain merges into the hills, where vineyards grow the grapes to produce excellent wines, such as Gattinara and Bramaterra. Hills become mountains as we move up into the valley of the Sesia River, destination for thousands of kayak and canoe enthusiasts every year. Valsesia is known as the “greenest valley in Italy”, a uniquely beautifully mountain environment, ideal for trekking and mountain climbing in summer, or for skiing on the slopes of Monte Rosa in winter. Art and culture lovers too will find that Valsesia has much to offer. Not to be missed is the Sacro Monte of Varallo, mountain shrine and place of pilgrimage, the oldest in Northern Italy. Fifty wayside chapels represent the stages of the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ through life-sized paintings and sculptures, the work of great artists, including Gaudenzio Ferrari and Tanzio da Varallo. At Alagna Valsesia the Walser Museum provides a fascinating record of the history and culture of the Walsers, originally from Germany, who immigrated to the Alps from the 13th to the16th centuries, settling also here in the Sesia valley.

Information
Atl Valsesia - Azienda turistica locale

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