- GOLF
- PARCHI, RISERVE NATURALI, ORRIDI
Fondotoce
Leaving trunk road Statale Sempione in the direction of Verbania leads to Fondotoce, the first town of the large Municipality of Verbania. As its name indicates, the village is located where the Toce River flows into the lake, north with respect to the mouth of the river. Precisely the river separates it from Feriolo, which today is part of Baveno.
Fondotoce: natural resources
Today, this peaceful little town is known for the campgrounds overlooking the Gulf of Borromeo, as is the nearby town of Feriolo.
The flood plain of the Toce River is one of the most important natural resources among wetlands in Italy, so much so that the Fondotoce Special Natural Reserve was created in 1990.
It is an important place in the area, marking the crossroads separating the Ossola Valley from the shores of the lake. The Verbania train station is located in Fondotoce along the Sempione railway, before travelling alongside Lake Mergozzo and then towards Domodossola.
The main road access to the Val Grande National Park also branches off in Fondotoce for those arriving from the southern part of Lake Maggiore and from motorway A26 in Gravellona Toce.
History in Fondotoce
Fondotoce’s strategic position has always been of interest to man, from ancient times. Several Roman - and even older - finds are proof of human settlements here. The main source of survival were once the numerous local quarries, which still tell the tale of marble and granite and their use in many works of art throughout Italy.
The Second Italian War of Independence also took place in Fondotoce, fought between the French-Sardinian-Piedmont army and the Austrians. The first cannon was shot in 1859 against a native Austrian precisely in the waters in front of Fondotoce.
In more recent history, the town is known for the massacre of Fondotoce: the Germans took 43 prisoners during intensified searches by the SS in the summer of 1944. Two died while they were being interrogated, while the other 41 were brought to Intra, where another 2 were added. The 43 partisans were forced to parade with a large sign along the lakeshore from Intra to Pallanza and Suna, up to Fondotoce. The sign read: “Are these individuals liberating Italy or are they bandits?” It was 20 June 1944.
They were then shot in groups of 3 along the channel separating Lake Mergozzo from Lake Maggiore. There was a survivor in one of the groups - an 18-year old boy. Today he remembers that massacre as those of the “42 martyrs of Fondotoce".
This massacre is remembered every year, and has resulted in an association that manages the Casa della Resistenza e del Parco della Memoria e della Pace (House of Resistance and of the Park of Memory and of Peace).
