Rustico o Casale

The cluster sits at the entrance to the Dora Baltea valley, with the Biellese and Canavese foothills around it and the Pennine Alps rising farther up-valley. The Dora Baltea runs through this stretch of valley. The Mont Avic Natural Park lies just across the Valle d'Aosta border to the north, and the first Alpine valleys open within a few kilometres. The nearest ski lifts are in the Gressoney and Champorcher sides of Valle d'Aosta, reached in roughly an hour by car, so they are not part of the immediate setting. Ivrea is the nearest town of size, with a full service centre and a historic core; its industrial city of the 20th century is a UNESCO site. This area is known for the old route into Valle d'Aosta, for Romanesque churches and castles around the lower Dora Baltea, and for vine terraces on the valley sides, including the Carema wine area nearby.