San Giulio Island

Mater Ecclesiae (Mother of the Church) Abbey (Italian: Abbazia Mater Ecclesiae) is an Italian Benedictine territorial abbey of nuns founded in 1973. The abbey is located on Lake Orta in northern Italy, considered one of the most scenic sites in the country.

The Basilica di San Giulio is a Roman Catholic church on the small Isola San Giulio in the center of Lake Orta, province of Novara, north-western Italy. It has the status of a minor basilica. Although the island is part of the Orta San Giulio municipality, the basilica belongs to the San Giacomo parish, including the island and a portion of the west coast of the lake in San Maurizio d'Opaglio municipality.

The Sacro Monte di Orta (literally: "Sacred Mountain of Orta") is a Roman Catholic devotional complex in the comune of Orta San Giulio (Piedmont, northern Italy) on the summit of a hill known as San Nicolao, which faces the western shore of Lake Orta. It is one of the Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy, included in UNESCO World Heritage list. It is a stop-over on the CoEur devotional path. Many of the artworks are of a high quality, some of the most highly thought of painters and sculptors of the period having been commissioned to produce them. The vegetation of the Sacred Mountain runs down to the shores of Lake Orta and was designed in line with ornamental criteria to match the architecture.

Villa Crespi is a 19th-century Moorish revival-style rural palace, now a luxury hotel and restaurant, located on Via G. Fava 18, near the shores of Lago D'Orta in the town of Orta San Giulio, Province of Novara, Piedmont, Italy.

Pella is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Novara in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 100 km (62 mi) northeast of Turin and about 45 km (28 mi) northwest of Novara on the Lake Orta. It borders the municipalities of Cesara, Madonna del Sasso, Nonio, Orta San Giulio, Pettenasco, and San Maurizio d'Opaglio.

Carcegna is a small village located above the eastern shore of Lake Orta, at an altitude of 490m, in the Province of Novara, Piedmont, Italy. Administratively a frazione of the commune of Miasino, it has 260 inhabitants, called Carcegnesi. Its patron saint is Saint Peter, celebrated on 29 June. Archaeological excavations have brought to light Gaulish, Gallo-Roman and Etruscan remains. In the outskirts of the village there are ruins of a fortification, probably of Lombard origin. The village is mentioned in the "Liber Cleri" as dependent of the parish church of San Giulio di Orta in 1133. The current church was built in 1661 over the foundations of the preceding Romanesque one. It has paintings by Luigi Scaramuccia, Giorgio Bonola and Federico Bianchi, and frescos by Luca Rossetti.

Pettenasco is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Novara in the Italian region of Piedmont, located about 100 kilometres (62 mi) northeast of Turin and about 40 kilometres (25 mi) northwest of Novara. It lies on the eastern shore of Lake Orta. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,318 and an area of 7.1 square kilometres (2.7 sq mi).The municipality of Pettenasco contains the frazioni (subdivisions, mainly villages and hamlets) Pratolungo, Crabbia, and Poggio Luneglio. A daily ferry service connects Pettenasco with Omegna and towns and villages around the lake. Pettenasco borders the following municipalities: Armeno, Miasino, Omegna and Orta San Giulio.

Lake Orta (Italian: Lago d'Orta; Lombard and Piedmontese: Lagh d'Òrta) or Cusio (Lombard and Piedmontese: Cusi; Latin: Lacus Cusius) is a lake in northern Italy, west of Lake Maggiore. It has been so named since the 16th century, but was previously called Lago di San Giulio, after Saint Julius (4th century), the patron saint of the region. Its southern end is about 35 kilometers (22 miles) by rail to the northwest of the city of Novara (located on the main Turin-Milan line), while its northern end is about 6 kilometers (4 miles) by rail south of the Gravellona-Toce railway station, itself located halfway between Ornavasso and Omegna. Its scenery is characteristically Italian, while San Giulio island has some picturesque buildings, and takes its name from the local saint, who lived in the 4th century. The island was fortified between the 5th and 6th centuries.Located around the lake are Orta San Giulio, built on a peninsula projecting from the east shore of the lake, Omegna at its northern extremity, Pettenasco to the east, and Pella to the west. It is supposed that the lake is the remnant of a much larger sheet of water by which originally the waters of the Toce flowed south towards Novara. As the glaciers retreated the waters flowing from them diminished, and were gradually diverted into Lake Maggiore. The inaugural European Rowing Championships were held on Lake Orta in 1893.Frequent ferry service connects towns and villages around the lake.

The Santuario della Madonna della Bocciola is in Ameno municipality, Province of Novara, Italy. The sanctuary rises up where tradition attributes the setting for a miracle: in 1543 the Virgin Mary appeared to a young shepherdess, Giulia Manfredi, and told her that she would help the village if the inhabitants prayed and did not work on Saturday. The church was progressively enlarged up to the most recent neoclassical architecture.

The Madonna del Sasso sanctuary is on a spur over the Lake Orta at 638 m height, in the Madonna del Sasso municipality. From the square in front of the church, called "the Cusio's balcony", there is a great view on the lake, the Mottarone, the Alps and the Novara area. The sanctuary is constituted by the church, the bell tower, and the parish house.

Madonna del Sasso is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Italian region of Piedmont, located about 100 kilometres (62 mi) northeast of Turin and about 20 kilometres (12 mi) southwest of Verbania, just to the west of Lake Orta. The municipal seat is in the frazione of Boleto. It borders the following municipalities: Arola, Cellio con Breia, Cesara, Civiasco, Pella, Pogno, San Maurizio d'Opaglio, Valduggia, Varallo Sesia.

San Maurizio d'Opaglio is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Novara in the Italian region of Piedmont, located about 90 kilometres (56 mi) northeast of Turin and about 40 kilometres (25 mi) northwest of Novara. San Maurizio d'Opaglio borders the following municipalities: Gozzano, Madonna del Sasso, Orta San Giulio, Pella, and Pogno.