What to discover
The medieval village of Orta
We are told of a place in the distant past infested with dragons, snakes and marine monsters, beaten by violent storms: this is the island which according to legend, welcomed San Giulio, or St Julius, at the end of the 4th century when he built his church there to deliver the place from the evils of paganism.
Landing there on his cloak, San Giulio faced the beasts who inhabited the waters of the lake, alighting on the island where he later built his 100th church, which was also to be his last.