The best road cycling routes around Biandrate

The Abbey of San Nazzaro Sesia is a complex made up of structures from different historical periods. The oldest parts are the bell tower, built as a watchtower, and the two wings of the narthex preceding the façade, which are what remains of the quadriportico built around 1150, shortly after the abbey itself was founded (1040). The cuts resulting from the demolition of the other two sides are still clearly visible today. The narthex is almost entirely made up of stones from the Sesia river arranged in a herringbone pattern to increase its solidity. The mortar itself was obtained from materials found on site, near the Sesia river. It was probably originally used as a “hospitalis”, that is, it served as a place of rest and refreshment for travellers and pilgrims, who we know were very numerous in medieval times, and it also had the function of hosting catechumens.

Pedestrian area, also suitable for bicycles (but be careful of pedestrian traffic, especially on weekends!)

The Barriera Albertina was a customs barrier of the city of Novara. Today (2021) it hosts cultural, social and artistic exhibitions and conferences. The two buildings have a square plan, with a single floor, with a flat roof. The facades have a hexastyle pronaos of the Doric order, surmounted by a tympanum. The external walls are characterized by a smooth ashlar, interrupted by simple Doric pilasters, which intersperse the architraved windows. The appearance is sober and essential, measured in proportions, aligned with neoclassical canons. The sculptural decoration was entrusted to Giuseppe Argenti, a member of the school of Pompeo Marchesi, author in turn of the statue of Carlo Emanuele III in via Puccini. Argenti chose the subjects according to the indications of the historian Francesco Antonio Bianchini, to cover the building with significant figures and reliefs. On the tympanum of the two pronaos was placed a relief with two female figures, symmetrical, holding the royal and city insignia: this represents the close relationship between the Savoy interventions and urban development. On the sides of the vestibule, on the main facades, are the personifications of Royal Charity, Gratitude, Agriculture and Commerce. Initially there were also two statues placed on the supporting pillars of the wrought iron gate: the representations of Concord and Vigilance. In the upper part of the western façade of each building are the following inscriptions, both designed by the historian Francesco Antonio Bianchini: KAROLO ALBERTO REGI NOSTRO PATRI P. on the north building, O.P.Q. NOVARIENSIS MDCCCXXXVII D.D. on the south building. The gate was designed by the artist Pelagio Palagi, already author of the gate of the Royal Palace in Turin. Later it was, together with the two statues, moved to the monument to Carlo Alberto, in Piazza del Rosario (Piazza Gramsci). After the destruction of this monument, in September 1944, the statues were finally destined for the entrance to the cemetery, where they still are today. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barriera_Albertina

Medieval tower located at the entrance to the town and dating back to the mid-12th century, it was a construction with military functions. Fairly well preserved, it still bears the visible coat of arms of the Caccia family.

Beautiful tower kept in excellent condition.

In the Middle Ages, Mandello Vitta was a free village: a town without duties and with toll functions. The toll tower dates back to around the 12th century. It is what remains of the fortification. It probably overlooked the ancient Via Biandrina; in fact, a large arch, now walled up, is still visible in the lower part.

The Cavour Canal is an artificial canal built to support rice farming in the mid-nineteenth century on the initiative of Count Camillo Benso di Cavour. The canal originates from the Po in Chivasso and ends in the Ticino in the municipality of Galliate.

The locality of Sillavengo was already permanently inhabited in Roman times, as evidenced by the finds currently kept at the Civic Museum of Novara and coming from a necropolis: among a group of glass funerary objects, dating back to the 1st century AD, a dove-shaped unguent bottle and a ribbed cup stand out; also noteworthy is a small lamp from the 4th or 5th century AD, of the so-called "African" type. A small Roman altar in granite, on which in the past one could read the dedication Iovi Optimo Maximo, is still found today at the Church of San Giovanni.