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Gravellona Lomellina
Town of Art, Nature, and Imagination
Gravellona Lomellina is known in the Lomellina region as the "town of art" due to the frescoes and murals that decorate houses, the electric cabins transformed with eyes and ears, the artistic posts of the bike paths, the wrought iron figures on the roofs, mosaics on the sidewalks, and other decorative elements made of various materials placed around the town. This artistic decoration, which mainly reflects the agricultural nature of the town, started in 1992 in the Barbavara district and then spread to Gravellona.
Every year, in the first weeks of June, starting from 1996, the "Festa dell'Arte" (Festival of Art) is organized. The festival involves the whole town, and for each edition, a different piece of art is installed in the town.
The gable of the church with the iron sculpture of a witch The Festa dell'Arte started as an outdoor thematic exhibition, with 70 murals (many of which have been lost) in the Barbavara district, inspired by a similar experience in 1956 in the municipality of Arcumeggia in the Varese area.
The Barbavara district, unlike other towns and cities in the plains, does not welcome visitors with the back of its outskirts but with a row of houses overlooking the rice fields. It is also home to art works and is connected to Vigevano and Gravellona by bike routes (dirt paths).
The Municipal Park of the Three Lakes surrounds the private park of the Barbavara Counts Where there are now ponds, marshes, hills, meadows, avenues, and forests, there were only fields until a few years ago. The Municipality purchased 20 hectares of rice field land and, with the help of many volunteers, transformed it into an oasis of biodiversity and leisure.
On July 15, 2013, the new cat mayor arrived! Her name is Marina! On February 22, 2014, she co-officiated a civil marriage!