Lake Orta
— — the small lake the painters kept to themselves.
Not only on a wall.
“The smallest of the great northern lakes, west of Maggiore by a single mountain. A medieval village called Orta San Giulio sits on the eastern shore, and a short row out from the pier is the island, Isola di San Giulio, with a Romanesque basilica and a small order of cloistered nuns. The water here flows north, which Italians find amusing; the Nigoglia outflow runs the wrong direction off the top of the lake at Omegna. The writers found it before the tour buses did. Nietzsche came up in 1882. Most days the pier is quiet by late afternoon.
Lake Orta, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.
Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.
The place, in three passes.
Lake Orta is in Piedmont, northern Italy, about 13 km long and 2.5 km wide, sitting at roughly 290 m elevation. It is the westernmost of the great pre-Alpine lakes, separated from Lake Maggiore to the east by Mottarone mountain. The main village is Orta San Giulio on the eastern shore, with a short passenger boat to Isola di San Giulio, a small island holding a Romanesque basilica and a cloistered Benedictine community. Most visitors reach it from Milan Malpensa airport in about an hour, or by train to Orta-Miasino station on the Novara line.
Above Orta San Giulio rises the Sacro Monte di Orta, a hill of 20 small chapels built between 1591 and 1788, each holding life-size terracotta figures depicting scenes from the life of Saint Francis of Assisi. UNESCO inscribed it as a World Heritage site in 2003, together with eight other Sacri Monti across Piedmont and Lombardy. The walking circuit takes about an hour. Down at the lake's edge, Isola di San Giulio holds a Romanesque basilica dedicated to Saint Julius, a missionary credited with founding the island's first church in the late fourth century.
Orta has always been the quiet one among the great northern lakes. Friedrich Nietzsche came up to the Sacro Monte in 1882 with Lou Salomé and Paul Rée; later writers and painters followed. The lake is small enough to row across in a long afternoon, and the Nigoglia, the short outflow stream at the foot of Omegna, makes a noticeable sound at night. The Stresa boats on Lake Maggiore are just over the mountain. Lake Como is two hours further east. Orta keeps its scale.