The island of San Giulio and the village of Orta, on the homonym lake

The island of San Giulio, the only island of Lake Orta, is approx. 400 meters from the shores of Orta and, like this one, takes its name from the holy preacher who came here in the 4th century with his brother San Giuliano. It is connected to the mainland by means of a summer cruise line service from Orta San Giulio, a service that also reaches Omegna and Pettenasco. Long ca. 275 meters wide and 140 meters wide, the island stretches from north to south, where the tip is dominated by the Basilica of San Giulio and the adjacent Bishop's Palace.

The legend claims that it was San Giulio to slay the dragons and snakes that infested the island (perhaps a symbol of a pre-existing pagan settlement), and chose it as a home for his church. Once all the buildings were inhabited by canons: besides the Basilica there is the Palazzo del Bishop of Novara, the former seminary, a nineteenth-century building inhabited today by Benedictine covenant nuns (the only inhabitants on the island). The foundation of the Monastery Mater Ecclesiae dates back to 1973.

The island over the centuries also represented a defensive bastion for the entire Cusio, first as possession of the Longobard Duchy (right here, in 590, Duke Mimulfo was killed by order of the king, Agilulfo), then of the bishops of Novara , Becoming the religious hub of the Riviera