What is Sesto Calende known for?

Type site of the Iron Age Golasecca culture, with princely tombs that define the period in archaeology textbooks. Ninth-to-tenth-century Romanesque abbey above the Ticino, one of the earliest religious foundations in Varese province. Twentieth-century aircraft works that built flying boats and military trainers here until the company was taken over.

Where is Sesto Calende?

Sesto Calende is a comune in the province of Varese, Lombardy region of Italy, about 38 kilometers from Novara.

Lombardy · Varese

Sesto Calende

The town at the southern tip of Lake Maggiore where the Ticino starts toward the Po, the type site of the pre-Roman Golasecca culture.

38 km / 24 mi

Nearest hub (Novara)

10,975

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Why come

Sesto Calende sits at the exact point where Lake Maggiore narrows back into a river and the Ticino begins its run toward the Po, fifty-five kilometers northwest of Milano. The town is the type site of the Golasecca culture, an Iron Age civilization that occupied this stretch of Lombardia and Piemonte between roughly 900 and 400 BC, named after the village across the river. Rich princely tombs excavated here in the nineteenth century define the culture in textbooks; the Civic Archaeological Museum displays grave goods, weapons and imported Etruscan vessels found in the necropolis. The Abbazia di San Donato, a Romanesque foundation begun in the ninth century and completed in the tenth, stands above the river with a porticoed atrium and frescoed apse. The town was the seat of the SIAI-Marchetti aircraft works through most of the twentieth century, building flying boats and military trainers. The river itself frames the town: the Ticino Valley Regional Park covers both banks, with herons, swans and grebes that are easier to spot here than anywhere downstream.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Sesto Calende fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

Gallery

6 photos · scroll →

Known for

Abbazia di San Donato
Romanesque abbey begun in the ninth century, with a porticoed atrium, frescoed apse and the river running below.
Civico Museo Archeologico
Archaeology museum dedicated to the Golasecca culture, with princely tombs and grave goods excavated locally.
Parco del Ticino
Regional park covering both banks of the Ticino as it leaves Lake Maggiore, with herons, swans and grebes year-round.
Lungofiume
Riverside promenade between the iron bridge and the lake outflow, the main lakeside walk in town.
Necropoli Golasecchiana
Iron Age cemetery sites scattered around the modern town, source of most material in the archaeological museum.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through October is the working calendar. The Ticino Park trails on both banks are best in May, June, September and October, when the herons and grebes are easiest to see and the temperatures stay mild. July and August bring the Lake Maggiore traffic from Milano and the river beaches downstream fill on weekends. The Abbazia di San Donato is open year-round; the museum runs slower hours in winter. November through February the southern shore of Lake Maggiore catches the Po Valley fog and views close down for days at a time, which is why fewer visitors arrive in the cold months.