A market has been held in the piazza every Wednesday since 1228, and the town's shops are, in the main, happily free of tourist tat. If you visit in June or July, you'll find the lake partly given over to water sports. But, even at the height of the season, the accent is on normal life. Cheerful caf?sprawl across the piazza, and winding alleyways lead the way into warrens of narrow streets, all cluttered with the familiar Italian mix of peeling shutters and colonnades, fading frescoes and fluttering washing-lines.The summer is the town's busiest time for visitors.
As you walk, you encounter small signs in several languages that remind you that you are in a place for reflection "If you can be yourself, you are everything," says one. The basilica is awe-inspiring, with a magnificent 12th-century pulpit carved out of serpentine mined from a quarry at the nearby village of Oira. And the flagged alleyway that runs around the island's interior, flitting in and out of the sunlight, is signed "the way of silence" in one direction and "the way of meditation" in the other. The other three sides of the square are bordered by shabbily elegant pastel-washed buildings - mostly 16th- and 17th-century in origin, but now housing small shops, gelateria and tobacconists. Piazza Motta, a broad, flagged square, runs parallel to the waterfront and is partially screened from the bustle of the jetty by a splendid row of chestnut trees. Traffic-free in the centre, with romantic stone archways and balconies, street lanterns and leafy courtyards tucked behind iron gates, it epitomises Italian charm. The Villa Talonne, the home of the daughter of a piano-maker, has a concert hall where recitals are held There is an annual Festival of Ancient Music.
And Gabriel Griffin, a Welsh expatriate, organises an international poetry festival each autumn.Back on the jetty of Orta San Giulio, the enchantment continues. With an area of only seven square miles and a perimeter of 21 miles, Lake Orta has only one main town But, like the lake, it is a jewel. The palazzi are private, but their owners host a variety of cultural events open to the public. "Listen to the water, the wind, your steps," urges another.The waterfront of Isola San Giulio, ringed by beautiful old palazzi draped in wisteria and trumpet vines, also has an ethereal quality. But the special atmosphere of the island that moved the saint to choose it as a sacred place is still apparent. Legend says that for centuries it was the home of dragons - including the evil wyvern, a winged, two-legged beast with a terrifying barbed tail. When St Julius, the island's namesake and founder of its basilica, arrived at Lake Orta over 1,600 years ago, no boatman was willing to take him across.
