Crealla village in Valle Cannobina Wild Experience with our private driver and Farm To Table picnic.

Aside from the many semi-abandoned, seasonal Alpine villages which may only be inhabited during the summer or at weekends, there are a couple of viable, almost permanently inhabited mountain villages in the Lago Maggiore area which have not yet been linked to the road network and which can therefore only be reached either by cable car or on foot: Rasa just over the border in Switzerland and Monteviasco in Italy.

As a consequence of their isolation and due to the cost and complication of transporting building materials, both villages, perched on mountainsides, are still perfectly preserved in a mediaeval time warp.

Crealla, a third village in Val Cannobina in Italy only gained road access in the last 10 years.

Though there was talk of building a cable car, projects came to nothing due to lack of funding.

Nevertheless, due to its isolation, Crealla also makes for a fascinating destination.

Until 2005 Crealla in rugged Val Cannobina was separated from the rest of the world by 1500 steps; for the villagers there was no other way to reach the outside world other than on foot; everything the villagers needed, food, clothing and furniture, had to be carried up on strong shoulders.

There was much talk of building a cable car like the one used by the tiny Swiss mountain village of Rasa not so far away. But funds were never found and the project came to nothing; finally, in 2005, after waiting over 50 years, a road was built, but by this time the population had dwindled away, a fate shared with other stranded communities in the area.

Nowadays, except when the popular annual castagnata (roast chestnut festival) and nativity scene events are held, the road is little used. There are just 15 residents left. Fortunately, for visitors, Crealla’s isolation had the effect of freezing it in time, leaving a perfectly preserved village where the pace of life is still slow and whose outskirts are not blighted by post-war villas.

Though the pictures que village, surrounded by woodland, no longer has a shop or bar, both of which closed in 1995, it provides a fascinating insight into the way villagers used to live.

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