The San Carlo Circuit connects the villages of Valle Cannobina and takes the name of San Carlo Borromeo in memory of a pastoral visit that the Saint made to the valley in 1574. In Gurro, the ancient and charming "Casa San Carlo" recalls the place where the saint slept during his pastoral visit. It is a two-stage itinerary: the first, from Cannobio on Lake Maggiore to Falmento, a small village of Valle Cannobina. The second Stage is a semi-circular itinerary that departs Falmenta and reaches Cursolo (on the opposite side of the T. Cannobino). The route follows almost entirely lovely paved mule tracks. From Falmenta, a variant of the second stage allows to reach Cursolo directly from Gurro shortening the route.

The particularly fascinating territory of Valle Cannobina still preserves the unspoilt appearance of the past. The landscape is marked by the testimonies of traditional rural life, based on subsistence farming. The villages are characterised by unexpected views, ancient houses with votive paintings on the façades, small squares, rustic stone fountains, which can be discovered by walking along the narrow pedestrian streets. In the stretch of Daila, Provola and Ponte Creves you go in the Valgrande National Park. In Traffiume, before Cannobio, the Cannobino stream has dug a spectacular gorge, the Orrido di Sant'Anna. Cannobio is the last town on the Piedmontese shores of Lake Maggiore before the Swiss border. Because of its geographical position, it was an important strategic and commercial junction that is still well represented today by the presence of numerous XVII-XIX century buildings that overlook the cobbled streets of the old town centre, such as the sixteenth century residences of Palazzo Omacini and Palazzo Pironi. In Gurro it is possible to visit the Geological Museum and the Ethnographic Museum of Gurro and the Valle Cannobina Valley which collects traditional objects and costumes of the Valley. The visitor itinerary is structured in environments that reconstruct the typical domestic contexts of the Valle Cannobina.

Possibility of refreshment in: Orrido di Sant'Anna, Lunecco, Ponte Falmenta, Falmenta, Gurro Possibility of accommodation in Gurro, Cursolo and Orasso

Follow the A26 motorway to Verbania and then SS 34 del Lago Maggiore as far as Cannobio. Falmenta and Cursolo can be reached from Cannobio and from Val Vigezzo via the Valle Cannobina provincial road. You must drive carefully as the road has many bends and is very narrow

Source: Unione del Lago Maggiore
Itinerary code: CSC
Recommended period: April - November
Historical interest: Yes
Devotional interest: Yes
Access by public transport: Yes
Provinces crossed: Distretto dei Laghi