Mergozzo: The Motor-Free Lake in the Heart of the Ossola

Ten minutes by car from Verbania and the Lake Maggiore ferries there is a lake no motorboat has ever crossed. Lago di Mergozzo is the only Italian lake where motor navigation has been banned by law since 1939: an old regulation that has preserved its waters in a state of extraordinary clarity, with visibility up to 12 metres in summer. The bottom is sandy and the water warms quickly in July, reaching 24 degrees.

The Village and the Romanesque Church

The village of Mergozzo — 2,100 inhabitants — faces the lake's northern shore with a plane-tree-lined lakeside promenade that has nothing to envy the well-heeled resorts of Lake Maggiore, but costs a third as much. The old centre houses the church of Sant'Agata, an eleventh-century Romanesque building with a stone bell tower rising among the houses like a monolith. The interior holds poorly documented medieval frescoes.

Swimming and Lake Life

Mergozzo's shores are partly open and partly fitted with small private beaches that charge 5–8 euros for entry and an umbrella. The municipal beach is free. Kayak and SUP can be rented at 10–15 euros per hour from a cooperative on the lakeside. No ice-cream shops with loudspeakers, no tourist boats: silence is the lake's main attraction and also the hardest thing to find on Lake Maggiore.

How to Combine the Visit

Mergozzo pairs naturally with Domodossola (15 km to the north) and the Ossola Valley. The A26 motorway and the Simplon railway pass through Verbania, from which Mergozzo is a 6-kilometre drive. The swimming season runs from June to August; in spring the lakeside is frequented by runners and walkers in the low lake light.