[The cable car is currently out of order and not operating]

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Delightful mountain-top Monteviasco is Lombardy’s only cable car village. Very close to the Swiss border on the eastern side of Lago Maggiore, it can only be reached on foot (1400 steps in one hour) or by means of a cable-car (5 minutes). 

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This frozen-in-time village is predictably highly scenic; it boasts two restaurants providing traditional local food, making Monteviasco a popular destination for local day-trippers.

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There are plenty of opportunities for hiking along woodland paths or higher up, above the tree line into Switzerland.

With a current year-round population of just eleven, Monteviasco was only connected to civilisation in 1989 - by which time many former residents had given up hope and had sold out and moved on. A popular option is to take the cable car up and to descend along the scenic footpath down to the cable car base station in the valley bottom.

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If time allows, there are two other interesting nearby hamlets to visit. The first one, Piero, population 18, is ten minutes walk from the car park along a track.

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A traditional car-free mountain village, Piero, is wilder and rawer than Monteviasco. Featuring farms, rural poverty and plenty of mud, totally authentic Piero is off the tourist circuit and provides an interesting insight into country life. There is a rudimentary, totally genuine agriturismo offering polenta with local beef and cheese.

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The second possible destination is the picturesque abandoned village of Mulini del Piero, again ten minutes walk from the car park, where a mill has been restored, complete with wooden wheel and a ditch to channel the water.