Established in 1978, the Park covers about 900 hectares, along an almost 8 km stretch of river on the border between the provinces of Vercelli and Novara. The territory is fluvial and is characterised by the “lame” (blades), stretches of water that have arisen from branches of the Sesia, and by gerbidi, clearings developed on gravel deposits. The terrain is continually shaped by the flooding of the Sesia river. Its banks are lined by woods, now the last remnants of the vanished lowland forests. This natural oasis stands in stark contrast to the surrounding landscape characterised by the predominance of monoculture rice production.

The park can be explored all year round on foot and by bicycle, either on self-guided equipped trails or with dedicated educational activities. The Ornithological Museum at the park headquarters in Albano Vercellese can also be visited on request.

The park is home to one of the largest garzaie (heron nest areas) in Italy, located on the southern border of Parco delle Lame and surrounded by the river. It is the ideal place for birdwatchers who can use the sighting hut on the bank of the Sesia river to observe the life and habits of the birds that inhabit this area. Little egrets, grey herons, cormorants and cattle egrets nest in the Isolone di Oldenico Special Nature Reserve. At appropriate periods, birdwatching can be practised in the Park’s equipped observation huts.

However, this is not the only great “city of herons”. The Villarboit Garzaia has been a Special Nature Reserve of the Piedmont Region since 1990. The protected area consists of a poplar and rice paddy cultivation area, and of a coppice forest with locust trees, field elms and black alders. Another nesting place for ardeids is in Carisio, on the right bank of the Elvo stream, with the Special Nature Reserve of the Carisio Garzaia. Night herons, egrets and grey herons have “found a home” in a heavily anthropised lowland area. Public access is not permitted in these protected areas, except for study purposes. However, the bird species can be conveniently observed from the perimeter of the reserve.

The most important engineering work in the Lower Vercelli area is the Cavour Canal, an artificial canal built to support agriculture and, particularly, rice cultivation. The Canal, strongly desired by the Piedmont statesman Camillo Benso Count of Cavour after whom it is named, is about 85 km long. It was made completely by hand by thousands of men in just three years and, crossing the entire Vercelli plain, it connects the Po river to the Ticino river.

The idea of drawing water from the Po river for the irrigation of the lower Novarese and Lomellina areas was insightfully conceived by Francesco Rossi, a farmer from Vercelli who also designed the first project for the canal in the mid-19th century.

Vercelli’s irrigation network, one of the most efficient in Europe, is also made up of a dense maze of canals and waterways that move ancient mills and millstones, such as the ancient mill of St. John  in Fontanetto Po, and whose banks conceal buildings of great importance, such as the Santhià hydrometric station.

The Cavour Canal is jointly managed by the West Sesia and East Sesia consortia, and is part of a complex irrigation network, whose proper operation they guarantee. The West Sesia Association, which covers the Vercelli area, was strongly desired by Count Camillo Cavour in the mid-19th century, and covers about 80,000 hectares, an area that can be identified with the territories of Biella, Vercelli and part of Casale. It is made up of farmers who have the task of independently administering water for agriculture, and who often meet for decision-making at the Small Parliament of West Sesia, the association’s headquarters located in the city of Vercelli.

In addition to its main function of providing an irrigation service for its 4,000 consortium member farms, West Sesia has developed its activities in areas such as water supply, utilisation, conservation, regulation and distribution, protection of the territory, environment and nature resources, soil protection and conservation, and collaboration to make the most of agricultural production.

Probably built on the site of the ancient Roman forum and known as “Piazza Maggiore” until 1864, Piazza Cavour is the city’s living room and the heart of life in Vercelli. The Square is dominated by the monument to Count Camillo Cavour, and reminders of the medieval past can be noticed in the pointed arch porticoes and the mighty Angel Tower, probably the remains of a fortified house.

The Angel Tower, built before the 13th century, was part of a larger construction that dominated what is now Cavour Square. It has a square base on which a late Gothic octagonal upper half is grafted, ending in storm drains. The terminal area dates back to 1875, when the crenellations were added at the top. It owes its name to the legend surrounding it, according to which a desperate and penniless man decided to throw himself off the Tower to end his life. Realising his mistake too late, he prayed intensely and an angel intervened to save him.

A few steps away, overlooking Broletto Square, once the seat of the Town Hall and now known as Piazza dei Pesci (Fish Square), stands the Civic Tower, austere and simple in its square shape, probably from the 12th century when it is presumed to have been built. Its origins, however, may be even more ancient. In the 13th century it was acquired by the municipality, which is why it is also known as the Municipal Tower. In 1377, a clock was installed on it, a real novelty for the time, along with three bells whose task, in addition to striking the hours, was to warn citizens in case of danger or extraordinary assemblies. At 38 m, it is the tallest of the noble towers. However, in the past it was much higher than 40 m. Towering above the tower was a spire more than 20 m high, which was unfortunately destroyed by lightning in 1821 and never rebuilt.

The Tizzoni Tower is located a short distance from Cavour Square and is part of the palace of the Ghibelline Tizzoni family, which dates back to the mid-15th century. This family has very ancient origins. It is even estimated that a Tizzoni became mayor in Vercelli as early as the 12th century. The Tizzoni, also on the Ghibelline side, were bitter enemies of the Avogadro, on the Guelph side.

The Avogadro Tower (also known as St. Mark’s Tower) was erected by the Avogadro family during the 13th century probably for defensive purposes. In later times, the tower was incorporated into the group of the nearby Church of St Mark, serving as a bell tower. This brick tower stands on Via Verdi and features an octagonal floor plan.

The Abbey of St. Andrew was erected in Vercelli in barely eight years between 1219 and 1227, commissioned and funded by Cardinal Guala Bicchieri, a descendant of one of Vercelli’s most noble and powerful families, and a skilled diplomat of the time. Featuring Romanesque-Gothic architecture, the Abbey of St. Andrew is amazing for its majestic lightness, formal elegance and construction detail. Although the name of the author of the project is still a mystery, its architectural peculiarity lies in the perfect union of Romanesque lines from northern Italy and Gothic lines from beyond the Alps. Despite major renovations implemented over the centuries, the Abbey of St. Andrew still retains the charm and unique character that make it one of the world’s greatest masterpieces of Romanesque-Gothic architecture.

The Basilica

From the outside, the Basilica appears mighty with four vertical structures, precisely the two front towers, the tiburium and the side bell tower. Access to the basilica is through three magnificent portals surmounted by marvellous lunettes from the school of Benedetto Antelami. The chromatic effect created by the different materials used for the construction is remarkable, with the grey-green of Valsesian stone that covers most of the façade; the white of the sandstone of the small columns and of the capitals of the loggias; the red of the bricks at the top of the towers. The sober interior devoid of furnishings presents solemn proportions and is lit by magnificent rose windows and windows, which emphasise the succession of red and white materials and construction lines. The three large aisles, divided by wide pointed arches supported by cylindrical pillars, end with a very high transept where the majestic octagonal tiburium rises in the centre. On either side of the presbytery, which houses a precious 14th century wooden choir, are four apsed chapels. The most interesting of these is the one housing the funeral monument of Tommaso Gallo, the first abbot of the Church of St. Andrea.

The Cloister and Chapter House

Next to the basilica stands the abbey complex that housed the dwellings and rooms used by the monks. The first to be called upon by Cardinal Guala Bicchieri to govern the Abbey were the Augustinian Canons of St. Victor of Paris, later replaced in 1467 by the Lateran Canons Regular, who governed the Abbey until the 20th century. The hall, considered one of the most beautiful in Italy, is thus named because it was the place where the Chapter, the collegial body of the monks, met. With a square floor plan covered by ribbed vaults resting on four central stone columns, its interior preserves two frescoes attributed to Bernadino Lanino, a 16th century Vercelli painter. In addition to its beauty, the room is of great historical significance for the city. Peace between the Guelphs and Ghibellines of Vercelli was stipulated here in 1310, in the presence of Emperor Henry VII of Luxembourg.

Despite having undergone major alterations over the centuries, the cloister still appears today as a cosy environment, a place of peace and meditation. Enclosed on three sides by the abbey buildings and on one side by the basilica itself, it preserves a magnificent portico with terracotta frames and 14th century paintings. In the centre of the cloister is a well from which one can enjoy a spectacular view of the abbey.

St. Eusebius of Vercelli was the first bishop of the newly formed archdiocese of Vercelli in the 4th century, the patron saint of Vercelli, as well as the first bishop and patron saint of the whole of Piedmont. The Cathedral was erected as a cemetery basilica outside the city walls probably by Eusebius himself, and rebuilt a first time from the 5th century onwards: only the medieval bell tower remains of this first phase. A second reconstruction phase was undertaken in 1570. Admire the 18th-century Baroque façade surmounted by the large dome built in the 19th century, and the medieval bell tower.

The structure presents a Latin cross with three aisles. The magnificent silver-foil crucifix is suspended in the centre of the main aisle. Its restoration, carried out following an act of vandalism, has allowed it to be definitively dated around the episcopate of Leo (999-1026).

The Vercelli Cathedral is an important piece of the city’s history, from the famous silver crucifix, dating back to the 10th century and an inseparable symbol of Vercelli, to the Bell Tower that dominates present day Angennes Square, the last remnant of the old Basilica; from the Dome, which is also visible from the rice fields, to the mosaic floor skilfully designed by architect Edoardo Arborio Mella from Vercelli. The Archbishop’s Palace next door has become home to one of Vercelli’s most important museums, the Cathedral Treasure Museum, which houses one of the richest and oldest collections of sacred art objects, among the most important in Europe. This extraordinary heritage is preserved in the Museum, the Chapter Library and Archive, and the Archbishop’s Picture Gallery.

The Church of St. Christopher is a small jewel that houses some precious works by the talented Gaudenzio Ferrari. The church, also known as the Sistine Chapel of Vercelli, is entirely frescoed, and contains some of the most important masterpieces of the Renaissance in Piedmont, such as the Madonna of the Orange Trees altarpiece, the Stories of Mary Magdalene, the Stories of the Virgin Mary, the Crucifixion and the Assumption of the Virgin.

The Church of St. Christopher, with its pure Renaissance style, was rebuilt in 1516 after the old church and convent passed into the hands of the wealthy Corradi family of Lignana. Not many years later, in 1529 to be precise, Gaudenzio Ferrari was asked to carry out work on the interior of the church, which was completed around 1534. Ferrari spent about ten years of his life in Vercelli and certainly the most significant traces of his presence are found in the church of St. Christopher: a veritable treasure chest of some of the most important masterpieces of the Renaissance in Piedmont.

Entirely frescoed with exceptionally evocative cycles depicting Stories of the Virgin and Stories of Mary Magdalene, completed between 1532 and 1534, and the well-known altarpiece called The Madonna of the Orange Trees, where the painted oranges are actually quinces, the Church of St. Christopher awakens a sense of wonder with the shaded and dreamy frescoes that seem to expand, run along the pillars and flood every smallest space with colour and light.

The interior of the church is divided into three aisles ended by the transept over which the dome rises within an octagonal tiburium, which can be seen from the outside. A large polychrome marble balustrade, designed by Filippo Juvarra, divides the area reserved for the faithful from the presbytery area.

In 2015, the church underwent extensive restoration work, bringing to light several fascinating frescoes, still in excellent condition, dating back to the late 15th century—among them, the depiction of the Nativity.

The Confraternity of Saint Catherine initially arose as the Congregation of Santa Maria della Misericordia, with its founders meeting in a house beneath the parish of Santa Maria Maggiore. It was thanks to the bequest of a fellow brother that the Confraternity’s first church, dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria, was built, along with a hospice for travelers and pilgrims on the Via Francigena, which also served as a treatment center for the sick. The new layout for the hospital and the church was granted by Duchess Bianca Maria of Savoy in 1486.

The Confraternity of Saint Catherine was one of the first to equip itself with a Macchina, a sculptural group depicting a biblical passage, which is carried through the streets of Vercelli every Good Friday in the traditional Procession of the Macchine.

The Synagogue in Vercelli, inaugurated on 18 September 1878, is located in the centre of the former Jewish ghetto. The building is among the most striking in Italy, and is one of the most significant examples of the Moorish style in the latter half of the 19th century.

In the same area where the Synagogue now stands, there was once a small oratory, inaugurated in 1740 within the new ghetto, which had been established that same year. With the emancipation of 1848, it became almost immediately necessary to build a new place of worship more in keeping with the numerical size of Vercelli’s Jewish community, which at the time counted more than 600 people. The project was finally entrusted to architect Giuseppe Locarni, who carried out construction works on the building between 6 September 1874 (laying of the foundation stone) and 18 September 1878 (the date of its inauguration).

The city of Vercelli also hosts a Jewish cemetery, which was established in 1801, following the purchase of a plot of land in accordance with Napoleon Bonaparte’s cemetery regulations. Prior to the present cemetery, there were other burial grounds, precisely small cemeteries rented in various places in the city, which were later abandoned in the 19th century. The present Jewish cemetery is located outside the city centre of Vercelli. The tombs, placed in an elegant green space, differ considerably from each other. Indeed, the ancient ones have a simple shape and appear worn by time, while those following the emancipation have monumental tombs and family chapels of great artistic value, and were assimilated by the customs of non-Jewish society. Open periodically to the public. Check with the Secretariat.

ARCA is the modern exhibition centre that was opened in 2007 in Vercelli with an extraordinary exhibition organised by the Guggenheim Foundation in Venice. Designed by architect Ferdinando Fagnola, it is housed in the former medieval Church of St. Mark. After undergoing several transformations over the centuries, the church has become the subject of important restoration work on the frescoes, and the recovery of the architectural structures, which can be seen during the temporary exhibitions hosted at the ARCA.

The actual exhibition centre consists of an ultra-modern glass and steel structure resting in the central aisle, while the two side aisles are left free to be used for collateral events related to the current exhibitions. This creates a striking contrast between the modern, technological space of ARCA and the medieval atmosphere of the aisles and apse, enhancing the charm of this space.

This innovative parallelepiped has now become one of the city’s symbols, as well as a “stylistic statement” of the desire and ability to combine both the ancient and the contemporary. Indeed, the structure’s crystal vaults allow one to admire the medieval and majestic vaults of the church of St. Mark. In turn, the former church is returning, for the pleasure of Vercelli’s residents and tourists alike, the marvellous hidden 15th-century frescoes unveiled by the young restorers of the Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre.

ARCA is used to host events and exhibitions. The leading ones include exhibitions in collaboration with the Guggenheim Foundation, “The Renaissance of Gaudenzio Ferrari” and the exhibition dedicated to the Magna Charta and the 800th anniversary of St. Andrew’s Abbey.

Many changes have taken place in this small town of Livorno Ferraris since the distant 1400s, when the Colombara Estate was created from a hostel for wayfarers, a typical farmstead with a closed courtyard where rice cultivation began. With the arrival of the Rondolino family, the Colombara Estate was transformed over the centuries into a micro-world inextricably linked to rice, featuring dwellings, taverns, shops and everything necessary for daily life. The dormitory of the mondine (rice mill workers) was built in 1920. It is now called the “Rice Growing Conservatory”.

The mondine were seasonal female labourers who worked in the rice fields mainly during the flooding period, from April to June. The work consisted in transplanting rice seedlings into the paddy field and in removing weeds. It was very hard physical work, often carried out under questionable hygiene conditions, so much so that in the early 1900s a protest was organised, and the rice mill workers obtained a contract establishing the 8-hour work day in 1906. The event was marked by a plaque affixed in the centre of Vercelli, a short distance from the town hall.

The Rice Growing Conservatory is part of the Terre d’Acqua Ecomuseum, the largest and most complex of Piedmont’s ecomuseums. The Conservatory was established by the Rondolino family, some local authorities, and the municipality of Livorno Ferraris as a place of memory and testimony to the area’s rice-growing culture. It consists of two main parts: the dormitory of the rice mill workers, and some rooms of the farmstead that have been set up to illustrate the living environment of a mid-twentieth-century rice mill.

The various rooms, including the kitchen, bedroom, schoolroom and craftsmen’s workshops, exhibit period objects and unique memorabilia donated and catalogued by the townspeople. Visiting these spaces will carry you back into the past, underscoring the great value of collective memory in preventing us from forgetting our history.

Known as the Principality of Lucedio since 1875, the ancient Abbey, founded in 1123 by the Cistercian monks at the behest of the Marquis of Monferrato who granted them various lands, experienced numerous changes of ownership over the centuries that weighed heavily on its fragmentation process, which became definitive in 1818, when Prince Camillo Borghese, Napoleon’s brother-in-law and then Governor General of Piedmont, divided the property into three parts in order to sell it.

Lucedio is considered the cradle of Italian rice. The Grange territory developed from here, farms disseminated over a large agricultural area obtained by clearing and levelling the land. The geographical position along the Via Francigena was also strategic in the past for the socio-economic development of the abbey, which became a flourishing centre of political power. As many as three Pontiffs visited it in those centuries.

Now the abbey, located just a few kilometres from the village of Trino Vercellese, is a modern farm that can be visited, and which has preserved its characteristic medieval rooms. Beyond the fortified walls, you can still admire the abbey church, the unique bell tower, which is octagonal at the top but square at the base, and the four-sided chapter house.

A green raft in the midst of rice fields, this is how the Sorti della Partecipanza Wood in the Trino Vercellese municipality is often described. It is the last vestige of the vast lowland forest that covered the Po Valley before the extensive land reclamation works for agriculture in the Middle Ages almost totally destroyed it.

Its preservation specifically depends on a strict tree felling system that has been complied with since 1275 when the entire area was assigned in common ownership to the citizens of Trino. To date, members use the wood in accordance with the tradition of past centuries. An area is yearly placed on a tree felling rotation schedule, and then divided into smaller areas known as sorti or “spots”. Each spot is then divided into four (hence the name quartaruoli) and matched to a number. In November, one of the spots is drawn at random by the Participants; hence, it is chance that decides in which area the member may cut his or her share of quartaruoli.

Since 1991, it has been a protected natural area in Piedmont, a large green island of 600 hectares where various animal species find refuge that would find it hard to survive in the surrounding environment so affected by the rice monoculture. The Partecipanza Wood is bright with trees allowing a glimpse of the colours of the sky. It also counts several signposted paths for walking or mountain biking. There is no shortage of picnic areas to enjoy a picnic surrounded by nature, just a stone’s throw from Vercelli.

The Ancient Mill of St. John is located near the municipality of Fontanetto Po, and is a unique testimony in the Vercelli area of a rice mill powered by water. Its production activities ended in the late 1980s, as it was unable to withstand competition from state-of-the-art industrial plants. It was built in 1465, at the same time as the Roggia Camera canal by which it is fed, at the behest of Marquis Guglielmo del Monferrato. At the time, the Mill was called ‘da Po’ for its proximity to the great river. Rebuilt in 1617 following the destruction suffered by the surrounding area during the wars between the French, the Spanish and the Marquises of Monferrato, it was then called Mulino Nuovo, the new mill.

Like many other mills in the rice growing plain, the Mill of St. John lost its function linked to the milling of cereals over the centuries, while its connection to rice processing grew. In 1699 the land register lists it as a “pista”, i.e. a millstone for mechanically driven rice “husking”’, with hydraulic power obtained by means of a paddle wheel moved by water. In the 19th century, the structure was extended with a second building connected to the first by a footbridge. The millstone was replaced by machinery operated by the driving energy of water, which was no longer transmitted by the wheel but by the then innovative turbine that powers the plant to date.