Novara

Novara is the second most populated city in the Piedmont region, after Turin. The city borders are drawn between the Sesia and Ticino rivers and the city is only 38 km from Milan and 95 from Turin. The ancient city centre is still today the historical nucleus of the city. In ancient times, Novara was protected by a ring of walls but today only the Barriera Albertina remains. It is a complex of two neoclassical buildings that was the required passage for merchants who travelled from Turin to Milan. Nowadays, walls have given way to long tree-lined boulevards which surround the Historical Quarter. The most important monument in Novara is the Basilica of San Gaudenzio, built in 1888 and designed by Antonello Antonelli, where San Gaudenzio’s body, the city’s patron saint, is kept. Outside, the bell tower and the 121-metre high dome. The Duomo (Cathedral), also designed by Antonelli in a neoclassical style, rises exactly at the same place where the temple of Jupiter stood, in Roman times. The Paleo-Christian Battistero (Baptistery), the most ancient monument in the city, rises in front of the Duomo. The courtyard of the Broletto or Arengo (a historic meeting place of the city council), centre of the city political life, is close to the Duomo. The Palazzo del Podestà (Podestà Palace) and Palazzetto dei Paratici (Little Palace of the Paratici family), site of the Civic Museum and of the Gallery of Modern Art, overlook the courtyard of the Arengo. Among the important squares are the Piazza della Repubblica (formerly Piazza Duomo) and Piazza Cesare Battisti (known to Novaresi as the Piazza delle Erbe, a vegetable market), which constitute the exact centre of the city of Novara. We can also find Piazza Giacomo Matteotti, where the Palazzo Natta-Isol (the 121-m high Clock tower is very famous) is placed. The largest square is the piazza Martiri della Libertà (formerly piazza Castello) dominated by the equestrian statue of Vittorio Emanuele II, the first Italian king, crowned in Novara. In this square, there is also the Castello Visconteo-Sforzesco, the work of the Milanese lords, and the Coccia Theatre. The Allea, one of the largest public gardens in Novara, surrounds the Castle.