Rocca di Angera — Attraction in Angera

The entrance is pricey (14€) but this is one of the most beautiful and well maintained medieval castles I've ever seen, and I've seen hundreds! You can buy a cumulative ticket with Isola Bella and Isola Madre (35€), but not with Isola Bella alone.

Inside, we found a contemporary art exhibition ("Oltre il buio", 2023) which was, as usual with this kind of "art", not enticing; it didn't help that the alarm system was ridiculously oversensitive to proximity. Additionally, the castle hosts an expansive (and creepy!) doll collection, which includes some curious 19th c. automatas, sadly not actionable. The direction of visit wasn't clear, and if you start from the contemporary exhibition you will continue into the doll museum in the wrong direction. You're supposed to enter the doll collection from the ground floor courtyard I believe.

Of particular note are the castle's rooms, which are very well preserved, with some impressive late medieval frescos and some (not particularly important) 17th-19th c. paintings. The view from the top is amazing, with Lago Maggiore and the mountains around. Finally, the garden is incredibly picturesque! There's also an nice bar, inexplicably locked behind the ticket entrance (they really should open it for...

We visited Rocca Angera during our first trip to Lago Maggiore and it was an astonishing discovery. While the vast maggiority of turists visit only Stresa and the Borromeus islands (which is anyway a must see) this castel remain a bit hidden from the mass but deserves to be reached. In fact, fantastic views from its windows and its tower allows you to dominate the lake and Arona village right in front of you. The castel rooms are beautiful and full of historical portraits giving you the sensation to live into the past for few hours. The site contains also a contemporary exhibition and the ancient toy and automate museum. At last a visit to the medioeval garden cannot be missed as well as tasting deliscius sandwiches in the caffeteria (sit on the garden side, it is beautiful). Finally, the kindness of all the staff from the ticket office to the guys on the exposition and the ladies at the caffeteria give you the impression of beeing among friends all the way of the visit. Highly...

Tickets cost 15 euro per person. The Castle is beautiful, however, one wing was closed (Scaligera, August 2024) and the only exhibition was about dolls of various ages and toys, which for me was not so interesting. Inside the museum was hot and it was a bit smelly. The reason for the 4 stars is because you can actually climb to the top of the Castle tower, even if there's no sign or any direction whatsoever. We found our way up to the tower, passing through the Room of Justice, that has a wooden staircase that gets you up to the mezzanine, and from there there's the tower entry where you can climb even further to the top. The view is amazing from up there, and on hot days, there's a pleasant breeze that cools you. The bar has overpriced drinks, one bottle of water...