Pista Ciclopedonale del Lago di Varese

A lakeside path circles Lake Varese through reed beds, views of Monte Rosa and the prehistoric island of Isolino Virginia, linking the water's cultural and ecological landscapes.

Why it matters

The pista ciclopedonale del Lago di Varese is a continuous lakeside corridor, described by the Varese Chamber of Commerce as a defining feature of the province's cycle-tourism landscape.

The wetlands around the lake are protected, and beneath its waters lies a significant prehistoric landscape. Isolino Virginia preserves a pile-dwelling settlement within the UNESCO World Heritage serial site "Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps"; its finds document early settlement in the Alpine arc.

What to notice

The western and southern shores include reed beds and wetlands near Palude Brabbia, supporting the lake's birdlife. The landscape opens toward the Campo dei Fiori massif, the Alps and, on clear days, Monte Rosa.

The path forms part of a wider landscape of lakes, wetlands and protected natural areas in the province.

Isolino Virginia, offshore to the west, is the area's historical highlight: a Neolithic pile-dwelling site whose occupation, according to Varese's civic museums, reaches back into the sixth millennium BC. Finds from the island are preserved in the city's museums.

Context and history

The lake has always been Varese's benefactor: its shores carried Neolithic villages on piles, then Roman and medieval traffic, then the villas and boathouses of the modern age. The path is a contemporary creation that reflects changing relationships between the lakeshore, its communities and the surrounding natural environment.

Its significance grew with the rediscovery of the lake's prehistory: finds from the Isolino, first investigated in the nineteenth century, now anchor the UNESCO pile-dwelling serial property, and the lakeshore preserves traces of prehistoric communities who built settlements on alder piles thousands of years ago.

The lake's modern history also includes a sporting tradition associated with the Schiranna shore.