ORTA SAN GIULIO, THE PERFECT PICTURE
Have you ever thought of taking a trip among the Italian lakes itineraries? You could discover the fantastic world of Lake Orta. The Piedmont lake is completed in its beauty by the village not Orta San Giulio. Before turning your attention to the lake it is good to give importance to this village. After going down the stairs, for example, you can get to the Church of the Assumption, the parish church of Orta. The churchyard of this church consists of the entire square and the view, flying over the roofs, reaches the lake.
PALAZZO PENOTTI
One of the best places in the village of Orta is Palazzo Penotti Ubertini, whose entrance is right on the church square, a private building usually closed to public visits. Inside you can view rooms and rooms whose frescoes, coffered ceilings and furnishings are of extreme beauty and above all original and well kept by the family that still consists of the descendants of the original stock. Having visited this building, the time has come to return to the square to board a ferry and reach the island of San Giulio.
To go to the pier the stretch is short, and the boatmen will understand that you need them and will call you to the right boat. Navigation takes a few minutes, but getting close to the island has something very suggestive. A small island covered with houses and today inhabited only more by a woman and 74 cloistered nuns, a place well known also for the silence that reigns there, as well as for the legends that live there.
THE LEGEND OF SAN GIULIO
The legend linked to this place is full of mystery. It seems that Giulio and Giuliano, brothers, came from the Greek islands, and had come to the place. Once they moved here, they loved to go to the lake and from the banks they observed the rocky and inhospitable rock that came out of the waters. It seems that it was the lair of a dragon, a creature that habitually calmed its voracity by exterminating cattle, destroying houses and crops and, sometimes, even devouring some people.
Giulio, a compassionate man, sorry for the people affected by these attacks, decided to try to put an end to this situation. He took his cloak and placed it on the water using it as a raft. He drew his sword (because it was once necessary to defend himself), and once on the island he faced and defeated the dragon. This is why today the country is entirely dedicated to him.
