Cannobio

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For the town in Switzerland, see Canobbio

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Cannobio is a town on Lago Maggiore in Piedmont, Italy.

[edit] History

The local inhabitants likely became subject to Roman rule by the time of emperor Augustus. It is notable that locally, sarcophagi from the 2nd-3rd century AD have been found and conserved in the Palazzo della Ragione. The first documented annotation of the place of Cannobio dates to 909. During medieval times, the town became a center for wool and tanning industries, as well as lumber trade. Cannobio is named as a village by 1207, and is granted adeministrative autonomy. The Palazzo della Ragione was constructed by 1291 under the government of the podestà Ugolino from Mandello.

Cannobio was assigned to the archdiocese of Milan and later under the authority of the bishop of Novara (1817). Its ‘’pieve’’ comprised the areas of Cannobina, Cannero, Brissago and several lands on the eastern side of the lake. The church of S. Vittore, already existing in 1076, was completely rebuilt between 1733-1749, to which the bell tower had been joined in the 1200's. The autonomy of the community of Cannobio and the Valley came about in 1342, with the spontaneous submission to Luchino and Giovanni Visconti, lords of Milan. From then on, it’s administration remained closely connected to that of the Duchy of Milan.

In January 8-28, 1522, a sacred image representing the S.Pietà and located inside of a private house, began to bleed and exude pieces of bone and tissue. This caused villagers to erect on the spot the sanctuary of the S.Pietà, upon recommendation of Saint Charles Borromeo that visited the town in 1584. The economic life knew a renewed development between the 1400's and the 1500's: it demonstrates to the progressive expansion urban planning of lived from the original nucleus (the Village) towards the lake, accompanied by the construction of noble residences, like the palaces Omacini and Pironi.

Other remarkable moments were had in Risorgimento when the town repelled an Austrian attack via the lake (27-28 May the 1859) and was visited of Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1862. The opening of the litorral road to Swiss border (1863) created the favorable conditions for the start industrial production, including silk works.

In 1927 Common of Cannobio extend the territory incorporating some small administrative entities surrounding (Traffiume, S.Agata, S.Bartolomeo Valmara). In the tragic years of the Second world war the cannobiese population gave proof of great courage: they rose up against the Nazi-fascists, from september 2-9 1944, and proclaimed the Republic of the Ossola. In the years after the Second World War, the community has undergone further changes. From 1995 the town belongs to the Province of the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola.

'The Piazza Vittorio Emanuele III'

The large lakefront Piazza has just been given a major face-lift, as in the winter of 2003/4 it was completely re-laid in cobblestones and granite slabs. Also added was of a set of wide flagstone steps down to the lake, on which to sit and watch the lake steamers come and go from the landing stages nearby, and the sailing boats and wind-surfers skimming to and fro out on the lake.

Some of the buildings both on the lakefront and further back in the old part of town date back over 600 years, from when Cannobio was a renowned smuggling town, and most of these have been restored in fine style and in good taste.

From one, Giuseppe Garibaldi addressed the people of Cannobio in 1859, and on another stands a plaque celebrating an important event in Cannobio in 1627. Each building is painted a different colour, and when the cafes put out their sun umbrellas and tablecloths, and a Riva speedboat or two are moored in the harbour, one can be forgiven for thinking that one really is in Portofino.

To one side of the Piazza is Cannobio’s ‘Vecchio Porto’ - old harbour - which houses the sailing, rowing and speedboats belonging to the locals.

[edit] The Lake and recreation

Cannobio has its own Lido at the north end of town with a large sandy beach which even has a EU “Blue-flag” for cleanliness.

[edit] The Cannobio Miracle

In 1522 a painting of the Virgin Mary allegedly started bleeding. Shortly after this apparition, a plague swept through the area devastating lakeside and valley towns and villages, but leaving Cannobio relatively unscathed. Religious minds linked these 2 events and Pope Carlo Borromeo ordered a chapel to be built to hold the painting which is still there today. The Santuario della Pietà is that church, with its open dome, which stands by the lakeside.

The painting itself is housed in another church in the town, and though it is not removed itself, a Sacra Costa, representing the painting, is processed through the streets on the 7 January every year.