In Baveno

Along the lakeside of Baveno the Stonecutter’s Monument made with pink granite by Raffaele Polli and in Matteotti Square the wall painting carried out in 1979 by Gilberto Carpo celebrate with different techniques the hard work of quarrymen.

Churches and other religious buildings testify to the widespread and ancient use of Baveno granite for many different elements of construction.

One of the most notable examples can be found in the 12 Tuscan order columns that make up the pillared portico of the Via Crucis (Stations of the Cross) in the courtyard of the church of Saints Gervasio and Protasio and in other architectural details around the splendid square.

Since ancient times, granite has been used both in public and private buildings. In the old village centre of Baveno, called “Domo”, most of the houses, including some that date back to the late medieval period, have elements in granite.

Outside the centre, the medieval watch-tower at Feriolo, which was part of the signal alert system of the Ossola Valley, is built entirely in pink granite.

Later, from the 19th to the early 20th centuries, splendid villas were built with an intense use of this attractive pink granite for pillars, portals and other ornamental details.

In Italy and all over the World

Baveno pink granite is the most famous of the granites of the lakes (Maggiore, Orta and Mergozzo) and is the most widely used within Italy and abroad: because of its specific qualities, it is preferred both as a building stone and for decoration: witness to this are the numerous works created from the beginning of the 16^th century, initially just at a local level and in the neighbouring territory of Lombardy, then later in various regions of Central and Southern Italy.

Baveno pink granite was first launched onto international markets thanks to Nicola Della Casa (1843-1894), an entrepreneur who used modern marketing techniques in several languages and who opened sales offices in all the major European capital cities and even in America.

The good fortune of Baveno pink granite abroad continued throughout the 20th century with many works being created by the Polli family, sculptors in Baveno. In the 1900s, from the commercial point of view, it was above all the Cirla Company that developed an intense export business, selling granite all over the world including to the Far East.