Excursions to Vercelli, rice fields, countryside, parks and spectacular natural screenplays

Vercelli is the sixth city of Piedmont and the capital of Italian rice. The expanses of the rice fields that surround it resemble a huge gingham sea. Located at the center of a fertile, green plain rice is the most important agricultural market for which it is of particular importance at European level, and is crossed by & lt; strong>Sesia river that descends from the alpine ridge of Monte Rosa.

This particular environment, in which the light of the sky is reflected by creating plays of light, is populated with marsh birds such as herons and egretts. But the idyllic vision also has its price to pay. In addition to rice there are millions, if not billions, of mosquitoes live in Vercelli and therefore if you come here in the summer, provide yourself with a good mosquito repellent.

Immersed in autumn mists, this Piedmontese city welcomes you, surrounded by green rice fields. This cereal finds here the ideal soil for its growth and around Vercelli are concentrated a large number of companies that deal with the cultivation, processing and marketing of the rice. The extended fields have their own special charm, you have to put the car down and go on a bike or walk to fully enjoy its beauty and smells. In these perennially submerged lands, one gets lost thinking of being in the East instead of in Northern Italy.

Vercelli, among its rice fields, offers its visitors not only an artistic heritage rich in museums, churches and monuments, but also a fascinating nature made of parks, rivers and reserves that make it unique in its kind. The natural park of the Lame del Sesia covers a total of about 900 hectares, on a territory continuously modified by the flow of the water of the river: with the passing of the seasons, meanders, gravels, woods, ponds (the so-called 'blades') are created and disappear and are an ideal destination for birdwatchers.