• CH & IT Roadtrip
    Our walk starts out flat on the road along the shoreline of Lake Orta — Orta San Giulio, Italy.
    Our walk starts out flat on the road along the shoreline of Lake Orta — Orta San Giulio, Italy.Glimpse of Lake Orta from the shoreline road — Orta San Giulio, Italy.Mansions on the hillsides overlook Lake Orta — Orta San Giulio, Italy.Almost entirely hidden by the trees — Orta San Giulio, Italy.Villa Crespi ... once a vacation home; today a hotel — Orta San Giulio, Italy.An enchanting weathervane — Orta San Giulio, Italy.Welcome to "the Cinema on the Wall" ... Legro — Orta San Giulio, Italy.Fresco in Legro, the Painted Village — Orta San Giulio, Italy.Fresco in Legro, the Painted Village — Orta San Giulio, Italy.Fresco in Legro, the Painted Village — Orta San Giulio, Italy.Fresco honoring Ennio Moricone ... Legro, the Painted Village — Orta San Giulio, Italy.Fresco in Legro, the Painted Village — Orta San Giulio, Italy.Fresco in Legro, the Painted Village — Orta San Giulio, Italy.Fresco in Legro, the Painted Village — Orta San Giulio, Italy.Fresco in Legro, the Painted Village — Orta San Giulio, Italy.Fresco in Legro, the Painted Village — Orta San Giulio, Italy.Silvana Mangano in "Bitter Rice" ... fresco in Legro — Orta San Giulio, Italy.Fresco in Legro — Orta San Giulio, Italy.Fresco in Legro — Orta San Giulio, Italy."Bread, Love and Dreams" with Gina Lollobrigida and Vittorio de Sica ... Fresco in Legro — Orta.Oratorio di Santa Caterina in Legro — Orta San Giulio, Italy.Oratorio di Santa Caterina in Legro — Orta San Giulio, Italy.Oratorio di Santa Caterina in Legro — Orta San Giulio, Italy.

    Orta: Day 2 … The Painted Village

    July 30, 2025 in Italy ☀️ 75 °F

    One of the places mentioned under the sightseeing section of the Casa Longhi house booklet was Legro … described as the painted village. Can you say murals? Or maybe frescoes?

    After returning to Orta from our trip to Isola di San Giulio, we had a delicious lunch at Lilo Fieno, one of the restaurants in town, and then set off for the hamlet of Legro.

    The 30-minute walk to get there was fairly easy … along the shoreline of Lake Orta first, and then inland past Villa Crespi. The latter is billed as a hotel with luxurious suites and Michelin 3 star cuisine. It is housed in a 19th century Moorish-influenced mansion — complete with a minaret-like tower — that was once the holiday home of a wealthy cotton merchant. Certainly eye catching … but out-of-place, I thought, in the Lake Orta setting.

    What qualified this walk as ‘fairly’ easy instead of just easy was the temperature. With little shade along the way, the sun was downright brutal. Luckily we had water with us, and were able to replenish our supply when we detoured to the train station for Mui to order a coffee as the cost of using the facilities.

    Legro is one of the 200+ places in Italy famed for frescoes painted using the traditional techniques … by artists both well-known and unknown. The theme in Legro gives it the nickname of “the Cinema on the Wall” and features movies that have been filmed around Lake Orta.

    I’m not sure if we found all 60 of the frescoes, but our meander did uncover a number of them … including the one painted in honor of Ennio Morricone, who wrote many movie scores … “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” amongst them.

    Unfortunately, some of the frescoes were difficult to photograph … blocked by trees or simply because of the access angles. The Italian movies represented by the frescoes were unfamiliar to us … except for “A Farewell to Arms” … same with most of the names of the stars … except for Gina Lollobrigida, Rock Hudson, Vittorio de Sica.

    A quick stop at the Oratorio de Santa Caterina before we left Legro, and then we moved on to our next stop of the day.    Read more