Novara in half day

For those who come to Novara from the surrounding countryside, the city, a shopping center as well as a village rich in history and traditions, is immediately recognizable by the characteristic profile of the dome of S. Gaudenzio, visible from far away. Why venture into the streets of downtown Novara in half a day? Here are four good reasons:

1) To walk calmly through the cobbled streets of the historic center immersed in a atmosphere that recalls that of medieval villages; in fact the buildings in the center of Novara, built on a Roman plant with perpendicular streets, are largely medieval, albeit with neoclassical or modern additions; do not miss the Broletto courtyard, with the Palazzo del Podestà, the Palazzetto dei Paratici and the City Council Palace

2) To admire the spectacular view of the dome of the basilica of S. Gaudenzio, 121 meters high, reminiscent of that of the Mole Antonelliana of Turin; architect is in fact the same, Alessandro Antonelli;

3) To discover the bright beauty of the grandiose neoclassical cathedral , also built by Antonelli in the mid-nineteenth century, and compare it with the most collected one of his baptistery of early Christian origin, the most ancient city building;

4) To take a tour along the bulwarks, the large tree-lined avenues that at the beginning of the twentieth century have taken the place of the fortified walls of the city, of which only a short stretch remains near the Albertina Barrier, the neoclassical door that opened on the road leading to Milan; and at the end of the tour stop in the great gardens of the Allea, which close the Piazza Martiri della Libertà, the largest in Novara, with the equestrian statue of Vittorio Emanuele II at the center and closed on the sides by the Visconteo-Sforzesco castle and the Coccia theater.