This is the first important lake town you come to when approaching the Maggiore from the south. Two protected areas are close by: the Mercurago Natural Park 2 km south and the Ticino Regional Park near Sesto Calende 9 km south-east. Arona’s old crag-top castle looks across the narrow arm of the lake at its twin, Anghera, which once commanded the high road to Milan. Water sports; ferries to all parts of the lake.

Carlo Borromeo of the immensely rich and powerful Lombard family was born here in 1537. At 23 he was Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, an office inferior only to that of the Pope, but he slept on straw, and bread and water was his only nourishment. The bronze and copper statue of San Carlo, as he became after death, is 23 m high. You can climb inside it, crawl into the head and look over Arona and the lake through Carlo’s eyes.