Antrona Schieranco

Access

Access to Antrona Schieranco is mainly from the Ossola Valley, ascending from Domodossola along the road that runs through the valley of the Ovesca stream until reaching Antronapiana, a reference point for the upper valley. Domodossola is served by the national railway network along the Simplon axis, with connections to both Milan and Switzerland, and is the main hub for those using the train and then continuing by bus or private transport to the Antrona Valley. The nearest reference airports are Milan Malpensa and, at a greater distance, Turin, from which Domodossola can be reached via the motorway and railway network before continuing along the local valley road network.

Introduction

Antrona Schieranco is a mountain municipality in Ossola, Piedmont, nestled in the Antrona Valley, a side valley of the Ossola Valley, in the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola. The municipal territory is very extensive, comprising numerous hamlets and stretching from the wooded valley floors to the high altitudes on the border with the Swiss Valais, characterised by glacial valleys, reservoirs and peaks over three thousand metres in the Alta Valle Antrona Natural Park. The main village of Antronapiana, now the administrative centre of the municipality, rises at around 900 metres above sea level, in a basin shaped by glaciers and redesigned by large historical landslides, which also gave rise to the nearby Lake Antrona.

Description

The municipality was born in 1928 from the union of the ancient municipalities of Antronapiana and Schieranco, settlements documented since the Middle Ages, linked to transhumance, the exploitation of high-altitude pastures and a transit route that connected the Ossola to the Saas valley via the Alpine passes now on the Italian-Swiss border. For centuries, Antrona was an important centre for the passage of goods and people along the so-called Via Lotharia, until the changing trade routes and mountain depopulation gradually reduced the population, now only a few hundred residents distributed in scattered hamlets. Despite this demographic decline, the settlement fabric preserves stone houses, barns and haylofts that tell of the traditional organisation of Ossola alpine life, with strong seasonal links between the valley floor, alpine pastures and border ridges.
The natural environment of Antrona Schieranco is dominated by valleys cut by rushing torrents, broad-leaved and coniferous forests, steep slopes and a series of artificial reservoirs built during the 20th century for hydroelectric production. These include Lake Antrona, originally created by a large 17th-century landslide and subsequently regulated, Lake Campliccioli, Lake Cingino and Lake Camposecco, connected by long mule tracks and paths up the Troncone and Rio Banella valleys. The crest peaks towards Switzerland exceed 3,000 metres, forming an alpine amphitheatre that offers glacial glimpses, rock faces and high altitude environments of considerable naturalistic interest, today largely protected by the Alta Valle Antrona Natural Park.
In economic terms, the municipality is part of the band of small Ossola alpine communities, with very low population density and a limited productive fabric, based on small local activities, extensive livestock farming, pasture management and services linked to excursion tourism. Hydroelectric power represents a significant component of the infrastructural landscape, with dams, pipelines and ancillary works that have profoundly affected the morphology of some valleys, while constituting an important energy resource for the territory. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in forms of slow tourism, nature experiences and stays in small-scale accommodation facilities, which seek to enhance the valley's tranquil and scarcely anthropised dimension.
The cultural identity of Antrona Schieranco is linked to the rural alpine world of Ossola, with a local dialect similar to that of the other surrounding valleys and religious traditions that find expression in churches, oratories and votive chapels scattered throughout the hamlets. The patron saints' days, processions and festivities that mark the liturgical year maintain a role of social cohesion, often accompanied by convivial moments in which the dishes of Ossola cuisine, based on polenta, alpine cheeses, sausages and simple recipes linked to local products, appear. Alongside the oldest religious buildings, some of which were rebuilt or enlarged after destructive natural events such as major landslides, there are also examples of typical rural architecture, with poplar roofs and wooden balconies.
Hiking is one of the areas in which the municipality today finds its own specificity, thanks to a network of trails that connect valley floors, mountain pastures and artificial lakes. Among the most popular itineraries is the circumnavigation of Lake Antrona, a ring-route that allows you to read the geomorphological history of the great 17th-century landslide and to cross, by means of ladders and footbridges, the singular passage "behind" the waterfall of the Sajont stream. Higher up, the long tours that touch the four lakes of the upper valley - Antrona, Campliccioli, Cingino and Camposecco - require a good workout but offer a complete picture of the hydro landscape and the hanging valleys that descend from the border ridges. The presence of the nature park and marked trails also allows for multi-day excursions, linking the Antrona Valley to other Ossola valleys and the nearby Valais, along ancient transit routes now rediscovered in a hiking key.

Information

Area: 100.18 km²
Altitude: 902m
Maximum elevation: 3,654m - Pizzo d'Andolla
Number of inhabitants: 400 as of 31.07.2025
Name in dialect: Antrùna
Name of inhabitants: Antrùna
Patron Saint:St. Lawrence
Bordering municipalities: Bognanco, Borgomezzavalle, Calasca-Castiglione, Ceppo Morelli, Montescheno, Saas-Almagell, Vanzone con San Carlo, Zwischbergen
Website: www.comune.antronaschieranco.vb.it