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Pella
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 The village of Pella is located on the western shore of Lake Orta, right in front of Orta and of the Island of San Giulio. The territory occupied by the Municipality of Pella has an elongated shape along the shore of the lake, the village of Pella in the strict sense is however located in correspondence with the small delta stretching towards the lake formed by the Pellèsina and Pellina streams.
The area appears to have been inhabited since the late Roman era, as evidenced by a burial ground with cinerary urns and coins from the fourth century. The first document in which Pella is mentioned, which in medieval times was a fortified village, dates back to 1039.
Pella also includes the fractions of Alzo, Monte San Giulio, Ventraggia and Ronco.
More open than Orta, Pella too has a beautiful lakefront (figure in evidence), which allows, among other things, to see the facade of the Basilica of San Giulio, which from Orta is instead closed to view.
There are many things to see in Pella:
- Church of San Filiberto (Fig. 1): It is located in the fraction of Prorio, in the southern part of the territory of Pella. It is a small church of Romanesque origin built around the eleventh century, although subsequently remodeled several times. It is flanked by an ossuary and surrounded by the chapels of the Via Crucis. It was originally located inear an adjacent cemetery.
Externally the church has no real decorations, but only funerary tombstones from various eras inserted on the walls. The facade is gabled. The roof is covered with stone slates. The bell tower, in typical Romanesque style and dated by the historian Verzone between 1075 and 1110, is located in front of the church, detached from it and is made up of roughly squared stones.
The interior, with a single nave and exposed wooden truss roof, testifies to the fact that the church has been modified several times over the centuries. The three spans are in fact divided by acute-angled arches, while the entrance arch of the presbytery is round.
The deep apse ends with a polygonal choir, separated from the presbytery by extensions of the altar which reach the side walls and are equipped with a door.
The altar is dominated by a large retable in carved and gilded wood with an architectural structure decorated with cherubs and cherub heads. At the apex there is a broken pediment with a window from which the Eternal Father looks out.
On the right wall, the removal of the layers of plaster in an area near the presbytery brought back to light, at the beginning of the century, a part of an ancient fresco representing St. Julius and other figures with popular faces that are difficult to interpret where in Gothic characters the name of S. Filiberto can be read.
- Parish church of Sant'Albino (Fig. 3, 4): It is located in Pella strictly speaking. The parish, up to the year 1516, had been, like all other communities, dependent on the only pleban church on the island of San Giulio. The church has Romanesque origins. Towards the end of the sixteenth century it was enlarged and the portico in front of the facade was added. Extensive alterations also took place in recent times. The bell tower is in fact from 1936.
The interior has a single nave. The neoclassical frescoes in the vault of the nave and the of the presbytery were painted in 1870 by Giovanni Valtorta from Milan. A remarkable painting by Perraccino, The Presentation of the Virgin, is kept inside the church to the right of the entrance. The main altarpiece, depicting the Madonna del Carmine and Sant'Albino, is also valuable.
- Bridge over the Pellino: It is an ancient humpback bridge built in 1587 over the Pellino stream. Built entirely of stone, it has the inscription "Magister Joaninus de Rugias fecit". In the past, the bridge served as a link with the nearby cemetery of San Rocco.
- Church of San Defendente: Small church in the fraction of Ronco. It is built with square blocks of stone. It has a gabled façade, a small portico, a square apse and a small bell tower. Of value is the altarpiece, depicting the saint dedicatee. The chapels inside the church are dedicated to Saint Joseph, the Holy Family, Saint Sebastian, the Virgin and Saint Lucia.
- St. John the Baptist Church: It is the parish church of the fraction Alzo. It was built starting from 1589. The church has a single nave with four side chapels. In 1791, the church underwent major expansion and renovation works. The high altar is dedicated to the nativity of St. John the Baptist, and was blessed on June 23, 1783. The choir is from 1791, the windbreak from 1869. In 1894 the interior of the church was decorated by the painters Valsesia and Bovini. The figures of the frescoes on the vaults are by Burlazzi and represent scenes from the life of St. John. The polychrome windows are from 1940.
- Medieval tower: This is the tower present between the houses on the lakefront. Today private property and used as a residential building, it represents the only surviving testimony of the medieval fortifications of Pella.
- Palace Zanotti: It is one of the two buildings that belonged to the family Zanotti, an important family of Pella. The building overlooks the main square of Pella, a short distance from the lake shore. Although very sober, the large central door above which there is a large balcony with a refined wrought iron balustrade betrays its importance. In the courtyard you can see an elegant portico with round granite columns, the elaborate Baroque door leading to the palace garden and the balconies with wrought iron balustrades.
Categories: Places of historical value of artistic value of landscape value
Pella |
Further pictures of Pella in the section Photography |