Holiday apartment in Salussola: history, landscapes and hiking trails

Salussola reveals three distinctive sides: a varied landscape, impressive traces of local history and a museum dedicated to the world of gold. When planning your trip around a holiday apartment in Salussola, you can therefore combine different interests – from nature and outdoor activities to churches, archaeology and traditional craftsmanship.

Between the Elvo, the Serra and panoramic views

The Elvo River crosses Salussola from northwest to southeast and divides the municipality into two parts. On the right bank of the Elvo, Salussola gradually climbs the hills at the end of the Serra and extends into dense forests and secluded intermorainic valleys. The landscape is also characterised by panoramic views offering exceptional vistas of the Biellese area. This combination of river landscape, hills and woodland opens up various possibilities for structuring your days according to your preferred pace of travel.

Churches, gate and ancient traces

You enter the village of Salussola through a well-preserved medieval town gate. The square tower of the old castle is a 20th-century reconstruction in the form of the original keep. In addition to the panoramic view from Salussola, there is the parish church of Santa Maria Assunta, which dates from the 12th to the 15th century. In the San Secondo district, historians consider the Pieve di San Secondo dei Vittimuli to be the mother church and the oldest of all the churches in the lower Biellese area. It dates from the 4th century, although only the ruins of its perimeter walls remain today. The Oratorio di San Nicola da Tolentino, which dates from the 16th century, is also one of the historical points of interest.

Over the centuries, the San Secondo valley has yielded numerous archaeological finds from Roman and medieval times. The ancient settlement of Victimulae (also Victumulae) was connected with the nearby open-pit gold mines of Bessa. Salussola’s history thus extends from early settlement traces to later religious and architectural evidence.

Hiking trails and goldsmithing

There are five restored hiking trails in the Valle dell’Oro. In addition, a folder containing five trail sheets and a map is available to visitors in the museum’s Sala Sentieri. The Sentiero delle Processioni Campestri is mentioned in a document from 1695, which is kept in the parish archives of Salussola. The Museum Laboratory of Gold and Stone is an institution of the Biellese Ecomuseum. Its Sala dell’Oro offers a historical tour through the world of gold: from its formation, history and distribution to its many uses and the methods used to process it. With the support of specialists, important goldworking techniques are taught in the gold-processing workshop, including chasing and repoussé.

The historic churches and castle tower appeal to different interests than the forests, intermorainic valleys and hiking trails. The museum complements the landscape experiences with archaeology and gold processing. This is especially useful on trips involving several interests, allowing you to alternate between active trails, local history and craft and cultural discoveries without reducing Salussola’s character to just one theme.

For further regional orientation, you can also explore Crevacuore, Viverone, Zimone, Tollegno, Mongrando, Pollone, Cossato and Cavaglià.

For the overarching travel overview: Biella.