Novara - Novara

Novara
The Basilica of San Gaudenzio with its famous dome
Coat of arms
Novara - Coat of arms
StateItaly
RegionPiedmont
TerritoryNovarese
Altitude162 m a.s.l.
Surface103.02 km²
Inhabitants104.181 (2019)
Name inhabitantsNovara
Prefix tel 39 0321
POSTAL CODE28100
Time zone UTC 1
Position
Map of Italy
Reddot.svg
Novara
Tourism site
Institutional website
Disambig colour.svg
Disambiguation - For toponyms of identical name, see Novara (disambiguation).

Novara is a city of Piedmont.

To know

Novara is the capital of the province of the same name, the second city of Piedmont by number of inhabitants after Turin. It is the easternmost capital of the region and is located about 15 km from the border with Lombardy. The city in fact gravitates more on Milan rather than Turin and is considered more Lombard than Piedmontese in terms of history, language and culture.

Novara is not a city with a particular tourist vocation nor can it be defined "city of art", nevertheless it preserves interesting artistic and architectural treasures such as the bold dome of the Basilica of San Gaudenzio, the very symbol of the city, and the early Christian baptistery del duomo, one of the oldest religious buildings in Piedmont.

Geographical notes

Novara rises in the Piedmontese Po Valley, in the center of a large area characterized by the cultivation of rice; the rice fields are in fact the predominant element of the landscape around the city.

The historic center stands on a modest hilly relief of morainic origin that rises about ten meters above the surrounding area.


How to orient yourself

The historic center of the city has an almost pentagonal shape and is mostly surrounded by "bastions", tree-lined avenues that have taken the place of the ancient walls that surrounded the city.

The two main arteries are Corso Cavour-Corso Mazzini, with a north-south direction, and Corso Italia-Corso Cavallotti, with an east-west direction, corresponding to the route of the ancient Roman Cardo and Decumano.


How to get

By plane

The main airports of reference are the following:

  • International airport of Milan Malpensa - Terminal 1: 32 km
  • International airport of Milan Malpensa - Terminal 2: 35 km

By car

The city is served by two toll booths along the A4 motorway Turin-Trieste:

  • Novara Ovest (8 km from the center), for those coming from Turin;
  • Novara Est (6 km from the center), for those coming from Milan.

It can also be reached from the A26 motorway Genoa Voltri-Gravellona Toce from the toll booth:

  • Vercelli east (15 km from the center), for those coming from Genoa.

For those coming from Gravellona Toce it is advisable to take a stretch of the A4 as far as the Novara Ovest exit.

Novara is partially surrounded by a ring road that connects State Road 32 of Lake Maggiore (towards Arona) to the north, with State Road 11 (towards Turin) to the south-west of the city. The Strada Statale 11 also connects Milan with Novara.

Limits to circulation

Starting from February 2013, there is a driving ban for all petrol vehicles that do not meet at least the Euro 2 standard and for Diesel vehicles below the Euro 3 standard. The ban applies from Monday to Friday in the 8.30-12.30 and 14.30 hours slots. -18.30. Motorists can leave their car in one of the free interchange parking lots located on the outskirts of the city and continue by public transport.

On boat

The closest passenger port is that of Genoa about 150 km away.

On the train

Novara FS station

Novara is served by two railway stations:

  • Novara FS which has the Turin – Milan, Alessandria – Arona, Biella – Novara, Novara – Domodossola, Novara – Oleggio and Novara – Varallo lines (currently suspended).
  • Novara North, head station of the Novara – Milan Cadorna line.

There is also a third station in the Vignale district used only for local trains along the Novara-Arona line.

By bus


How to get around

By public transport

  • SUN S.p.A (Public transport company of the City of Novara), Via P. Generali 25, ☎ 39 0321 482811, fax: 39 0321 482890, @. Ecb copyright.svg€ 1,20. * Line 1: Olengo - Bicocca - Veveri - Cameri
  • Line 2: San Rocco - V. Chinotto
  • Line 4: Galliate / Romentino - Pernate - Station - V. Ancona
  • Line 5: V. dell'Artigianato - C.so Torino - V. Perrone - Station - V. dell'Artigianato
  • Line 6: T. Quartara - Station - Vignale - Bonfantini
  • Line 8: Lumellogno - V. Ancona - Station - V. Casorati - Cerano - Sozzago
  • Line C: Station - V. Generali - V. Adamello - Cemetery - Station
  • SP Line: Casalgiate - S. Pietro Mosezzo - Station
  • Green Shuttle: Viale Verdi - Piazza Cavour - Viale Verdi 

By taxi


What see

Basilica of San Gaudenzio
  • 1 Basilica of San Gaudenzio, Via Gaudenzio Ferrari. Ecb copyright.svg8 € (climb to the dome). It was designed by Pellegrino Tibaldi and was built on the highest point of the city starting from 1590, following the destruction, by the Spaniards, of the previous 9th century basilica that stood outside the walls. The church has a Latin cross shape and consists of a single nave flanked by side chapels. Among the artistic works preserved, the most significant is the large two-story polyptych by Gaudenzio Ferrari, made in 1516, which was originally found in the previous basilica. On the side of the church stands the eighteenth-century bell tower designed by Benedetto Alfieri, uncle of the famous playwright, 92 meters high. The most interesting element, however, is the neoclassical dome designed by Alessandro Antonelli, which has become the very symbol of the city of Novara. It was built between 1844 and 1878 and masterfully grafted onto a church of 300 years earlier. The dome is 126 meters high, weighs over 5500 tons and is built entirely of brick. On the cusp there is a golden statue of the Savior, a fiberglass copy of the original preserved inside the basilica. : From 26 January 2013 the church and the dome are officially open to tourist visits: the museum itinerary begins by climbing the bell tower via an elevator and then entering the church via an aerial passage; here it is possible to visit the "room of the compass" where there is a wooden compass 11 meters long used by Antonelli to draw the vaults that support the dome. The route is completed with the ascent to the top of the dome. 


Duomo
View of the baptistery from the Antonellian four-sided portico
  • 2 Duomo (Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta), Republic square. The current cathedral of Novara, dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta, was designed and built by Alessandro Antonelli in the second half of the nineteenth century by demolishing the previous Romanesque cathedral consecrated in 1132, of which the mosaic floor of the presbytery remains. 
  • 3 Baptistery of the Duomo, Republic square. The early Christian baptistery was probably built between the 4th and 5th centuries and represents the oldest religious building in the city as well as one of the oldest in Piedmont. The building has an octagonal base and internally preserves 11th century frescoes depicting themes from the Apocalypse and 16th century concerning the Last Judgment. 


Abbey of San Nazzaro della Costa
  • 4 Abbey of San Nazzaro della Costa, Avenue of Remembrance. The religious complex, consisting of the church of Saints Nazzaro and Celso and the adjacent convent, stands on a modest hillside near the city cemetery, once located outside the city walls. The first witnessed on the site date back to the 10th century but the current structures mostly date back to the 15th century. According to tradition, the foundation of the convent was the work of San Bernardino da Siena. Inside the church there is a thirteenth-century fresco depicting the Deposition; among the other important paintings we remember the Crucifixion in the apse and the scene of the Annunciation above the triumphal arch, both dating back to the second half of the 15th century. 


Facade of the church of San Marco
  • 5 Church of San Marco, Via Negroni ang. via Dei Gautieri. Baroque building wanted by the Novara bishop Carlo Bascapè who laid the first stone in 1607. Built on a Greek cross plan, it consists of a single nave with three chapels on each side. Apart from some nineteenth-century interventions, the internal style of the church has remained almost unchanged; among the pictorial works the most significant is the large seventeenth-century canvas by Daniele Crespi placed in the right transept. In one of the side chapels the urn with the remains of the Bascapé is kept. Next to the church stands the Barnabite convent, now the seat of the Bank of Italy. 


The Broletto
  • 6 Broletto, Access from Piazza della Repubblica and Corso Italia. Complex of 4 medieval buildings, belonging to different eras, placed around a central courtyard, called arengo. On the north side is the town hall, the oldest, dating back to the 12th century; on the opposite side stands the Palazzo del Podestà, built between the end of the fourteenth century and the beginning of the fifteenth century. Of the same period is the palace of the referendums on the west side while to the east is the palace of the paratici, dating back to the XII-XIII century, preceded by an eighteenth century loggia. The broletto, the fulcrum of the town's civil life during the Middle Ages and later used as a prison, was completely restored on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. It houses the Paolo and Andrea Giannoni Modern Art Gallery. 


Bossi house
Casa della Porta, detail of the facade
Bicocca Pyramid
Quaroni House
Remains of the Roman walls
  • 7 Bossi house, Via Pier Lombardo. Designed by Antonelli, it represents one of the best examples of nineteenth-century neoclassical civil architecture. The structure is in a state of neglect and has only recently been partially recovered and opened to the public.
In 2010 Casa Bossi received 26,150 reports in the "Places of the Heart" census promoted by the FAI, ranking second overall and awakening a strong popular interest around the building. 
  • Casa Della Porta and Casa Rognoni, Via Canobio. Civil Gothic style buildings dating from the late 15th century. 
  • Quaroni House, Bulwark Quintino Sella. Art Nouveau building from the early twentieth century. 
  • Bicocca Pyramid (Ossuary of the battle of 23 March 1849), Course 23 March 1849. Ossuary monument in memory of the battle fought between the Austrian and Piedmontese troops in 1849, during the First Italian War of Independence. 
  • 8 Roman walls, Piazza Cavour, Largo Repubblica D'Ossola. In two areas of the city you can see the remains of the fortifications of Novara from the Roman era. Recently other Roman remains have been found at the Corner of the Hours, in the city center, protected by a glass structure. 
  • 9 Church of Ognissanti. Romanesque building, it is the only surviving church of this period in Novara. It has a semicircular apse and three naves with four bays. It preserves an elegant octagonal lantern with single and mullioned windows. Among the frescoes in the interior, the Madonna with Child of the fifteenth century. 
  • 10 Cabrino Palace (city ​​Hall). It was built in the 17th century by the noble Cabrino family; now it is the municipal seat. The frescoes in some rooms on the first floor were painted in the seventeenth century by Giovanni Stefano Doneda known as il Montalto. 
  • 11 Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Saint martin). It was built from 1475, with a single nave and side chapels and paintings from the 15th century. Now it is dedicated to San Martino. 
  • 12 Church of San Pietro al Rosario. It was the church of the Dominicans, who kept it until the suppression of the Order by Napoleon. Erected between 1599 and 1618, it has four statues of saints on the facade. It preserves Baroque works and paintings by Giovanni Mauro Della Rovere, known as Fiammenghino, and by Giulio Cesare Procaccini. 
  • 13 Visconteo-Sforzesco Castle. The Viscontis built it on the site where there was a thirteenth-century fortification; the Sforza family transformed it in the 15th century, making it a stronghold. Nowadays it houses the Archaeological Museum, the Civic Collection and rooms for exhibitions. 
  • 14 Piazza delle Erbe. Triangular in shape, it is surrounded by arcaded buildings; from one vertex of the square you enter Piazza del Duomo. The area was born to host commercial activities; in the Middle Ages there were butchery (butchers), shoemakers, merchants. In the early sixteenth century it was renovated, standardizing the style of the colonnades, with round arcades, almost similar in appearance to the one that has come down to us. 
  • 15 Natta-Isola Palace. Built in the second half of the sixteenth century, it is now the seat of the Province and the Prefecture. It has a grand staircase of great impact, and an upper floor with halls frescoed by Degiorgi. The inner courtyard is square and surrounded by Doric columns with triglyphs and metopes. 
  • 16 Coccia Theater, via Rosselli 47, ☎ 39 0321 233201, @. Built in the late nineteenth century, it replaced a theater that existed in the area. Internally it has the classic horseshoe shape, with four tiers of boxes and an overlying gallery. The columns of the boxes are in cast iron with figures of gilded swans. 


Museums

A room in the museum
  • 17 Faraggiana Ferrandi Natural History Museum, Via Gaudenzio Ferrari, 13, ☎ 39 0321 3702755, fax: 39 0321 3702760, @. Ecb copyright.svgFree. Simple icon time.svgTue - Fri: 9:00 - 12; 30, Sat and Sun: 14.00 - 19.00, Monday: closed. 
  • 18 Paolo and Adele Giannoni modern art gallery, Arengo del Broletto, Via Fratelli Rosselli, 20 (inside the Broletto), ☎ 39 0321 3702770. Ecb copyright.svg5.00 Euro. Simple icon time.svgTue - Fri: 9.00 - 12.30 / 14.00 - 19.00, Sat and Sun: 10.00 - 19.00, Closed on Monday. 
  • 19 Museums of the Rectory of the Duomo, vicolo della Canonica 9/14, ☎ 39 0321 661635, 39 331 1659568, @. The two sections of the Cathedral and the archaeological museum are housed in the rooms of the Rectory, dating back to the 12th-15th centuries. Among the works are exhibited the statutory groups of the Baptistery, the Eburneo Diptych of the fifth century, the planet of San Bernardo of the fifteenth century. The archaeological section collects stones, epigraphs, Roman and Celtic ares. 


Events and parties

  • Patronal feast of San Gaudenzio. January 22 
  • Historical re-enactment of the Battle of Bicocca. March 23 


What to do


Shopping


How to have fun


Where to eat

Moderate prices

Average prices


Where stay

Moderate prices

Average prices

High prices


Safety

Italian traffic signs - pharmacy icon.svgPharmacies

  • 1 Winterize, Corso Italia, 42, ☎ 39 0321 629885. 
  • 2 Episcopal, Via Omar Giuseppe, 19, ☎ 39 0321 623388. 
  • 3 Lambs, Corso Felice Cavallotti, 2A. 
  • 4 Mazzini, Corso Giuseppe Mazzini, 16, ☎ 39 0321 399513. 
  • 5 Linnet, Corso Cavour, 7, ☎ 39 0321 612363. 
  • 6 Chiabrera, Piazza Cavour, 7, ☎ 39 0321 611077. 
  • 7 Nigri, Risorgimento Course, 33, ☎ 39 0321 477767. 
  • 8 Gauls, Via Pietro Micca, 52, ☎ 39 0321 611370. 
  • 9 Fanchiotti, Via Andrea Costa, 1, ☎ 39 0321 612382. 


How to keep in touch

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Useful information


Other projects

  • Collaborate on WikipediaWikipedia contains an entry concerning Novara
  • Collaborate on CommonsCommons contains images or other files on Novara
  • Collaborate on WikinewsWikinews contains current news on Novara
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