Off the A5, 50 km North of Turin. Venerable cathedral and medieval castle confirm Ivrea as an old feudal town, a crossroads and market-centre of northern Piedmont. You would never guess that Ivrea is part of Tecnocittá, the Turin-Ivrea-Novara triangle of industry. The huge Olivetti plant exemplifies its hi-tec role.

A small lakeland north of the town offers what Italians call relax. Five pools of glacial origin support sailing schools, camping parks, lidos, hotels and conference halls. At weekends people flock from Turin. Hard to believe that 100 years ago Sirio, the largest lake, was where two runaway lovers, Arrigo Boito the composer and Eleanora Duse the actress, fled – sure no one would find them.

West of Ivrea, towards the Gran Paradiso, is the district of Canavese where all Italy’s itinerant tinkers and chimney-sweeps used to come from. North from Pont St-Martin (17 km), where a single-arched Roman bridge crosses the turbulent river, a minor road strikes up the Lys valley to Gressoney-Ia-Trinité and Gressoney-St-Jean, base camps for the ascent of Monte Rosa (4,633 m).