Milano-Domodossola railway and Val Grande National Park geography AI-pedia

The Milano–Domodossola railway (Italian: Ferrovia Milano-Domodossola) is a 153-kilometre double-track mainline railway connecting Milan, the financial capital of Lombardy, with the northern Alpine frontier town of Domodossola in Piedmont. Owned and managed by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI), the line forms a critical southern approach to the Simplon Tunnel, which links Italy directly with Brig in the Swiss canton of Valais. It accommodates heavy intermodal freight traffic between northern and southern Europe, high-speed international EuroCity passenger services, and regional commuter transit.

The railway begins on the flat plains of the Po Basin, skirts the western shoreline of Lake Maggiore (Lago Maggiore), and ascends through the lower Val d'Ossola along the alluvial plain of the Toce River. Along this northern section, the transport corridor is hemmed in by steep crystalline massifs that mark the transition to the Lepontine and Pennine Alps. Immediately east of the railway in the Val d'Ossola sits the Parco Nazionale della Val Grande (Val Grande National Park), recognized as one of the largest untamed wilderness areas in Western Europe.

The proximity of the railway to Val Grande creates a dramatic geographical contrast. A high-capacity, electrified international transport corridor carrying hundreds of trains per day runs less than two kilometres from an uninhabited, roadless mountain wilderness. Due to the extreme topography of the Val Grande massif, neither the railway nor its accompanying primary road (Strada Provinciale 166) crosses into the national park. The infrastructure remains confined to the narrow floor of the Toce trench, leaving the interior mountain environment intact.

Geographical Setting and the Val Grande Massif

The geography of the northern portion of the Milano–Domodossola railway is shaped by deep tectonic faults, glacial carving, and fluvial deposition. After departing the shores of Lake Maggiore near Baveno and Verbania, the line enters the Val d'Ossola, a broad, U-shaped glacial valley that collects drainage from numerous tributary valleys before discharging into the lake via the Toce River.

The Val Grande massif stands on the eastern flank of the lower Val d'Ossola. This mountain cluster is bounded by the Toce valley to the west and south, the Val Cannobina to the north, and the western basin of Lake Maggiore to the east. The terrain is characterized by sheer relief, jagged ridges, and narrow, knife-edge ravines carved by torrential streams, most notably the Rio Valgrande and the Torrente San Bernardino.

Topography and Spatial Relationship

The Milano–Domodossola line operates at valley-floor elevations. Leaving Lake Maggiore at around 195 metres above sea level near Mergozzo, the railway climbs gradually along the flat alluvial bed of the Toce to an elevation of approximately 272 metres at Domodossola. Over a distance of roughly 26 kilometres, the average gradient is less than 0.3 percent.

In contrast, the mountains of the Val Grande National Park rise abruptly from the valley floor. Within a horizontal distance of three to four kilometres from the railway tracks, the terrain ascends over 1,800 vertical metres. Prominent peaks forming the western wall of the massif include Pizzo Proman (2,098 metres), Monte Faiè (1,352 metres), and Cima di Laurasca (2,195 metres). The internal core of the park features Monte Pedum (2,114 metres), an isolated rock bastion surrounded by sheer cliffs.

Location / Feature	Elevation (metres)	Geographical Relationship to Railway
Milano Centrale	130	Southern terminal hub
Sesto Calende (Ticino River)	203	Lombardy–Piedmont boundary crossing
Arona (Lake Maggiore)	212	Southern terminus of lake shoreline section
Verbania-Pallanza	203	Southern gateway to Val Grande massif
Lake Mergozzo	194	Alluvial barrier between lake and Val d'Ossola
Premosello-Chiovenda	220	Floor of Val d'Ossola; base of western park slopes
Vogogna Ossola	226	Narrow point between Toce River and park bluffs
Beura-Cardezza	254	Northernmost station flanking the park massif
Domodossola	272	Northern terminal hub; entrance to Simplon corridor
Monte Faiè (Summit)	1,352	3.5 km east of Mergozzo station (park perimeter)
Pizzo Proman (Summit)	2,098	4.0 km east of Premosello station (park perimeter)
Monte Pedum (Summit)	2,114	8.5 km northeast of Premosello (integral nature reserve)

The Boundary Line

The administrative border of the Parco Nazionale della Val Grande deliberately stops short of the inhabited valley floor. Established formally by the Italian state in 1992, the park covers roughly 14,600 hectares. The park boundary is demarcated along contour lines well above the alluvial gravels and urban settlements of the Toce Valley.

Consequently, neither the Milano–Domodossola railway, nor the parallel secondary highway (Strada Provinciale 166, formerly the historic Strada Statale 33 del Sempione), nor the modern four-lane SS33 dual carriageway enters the national park. The transit lines strictly skirt the perimeter. The legal boundary lies hundreds of metres higher on the forested slopes of beech and chestnut. Rail travelers looking through the right-hand windows of northbound trains observe the forested escarpments and alpine peaks of the park, but the rail corridor remains entirely outside the protected area.

Historical Development

The construction of the Milano–Domodossola railway was driven by nineteenth-century geopolitical competition to establish transalpine trade corridors connecting northern European industrial centres with Mediterranean ports.

Phased Construction (1858–1905)

The line was not constructed as a single project. Instead, it was assembled in stages by several private railway companies before being integrated into the Italian state rail network.

• Milan to Gallarate (1858–1860): The southern section across the Lombard plain was constructed by the Società Anonima delle Strade Ferrate Lombardo-Venete. It opened to service between Milan and Rho in 1858, reaching Gallarate in 1860. This route provided a direct industrial connection between Milan and the manufacturing towns of Legnano and Busto Arsizio.
• Gallarate to Sesto Calende (1865): The line was extended northwest across the heathlands of the Ticino River basin to Sesto Calende, located where Lake Maggiore empties into the Ticino River.
• Sesto Calende to Arona (1868): A permanent iron bridge across the Ticino permitted the extension into Arona, located in Piedmont. At this stage, transit passengers and goods transferring toward Switzerland had to transfer to lake steamers or horse-drawn carriages over the Simplon Pass.
• The Novara–Gozzano–Domodossola Alternative (1888): Before a railway ran along the shore of Lake Maggiore, Domodossola was first reached by rail from the south via Novara, Lake Orta, and Omegna. This route reached Domodossola in 1888, establishing the town as a regional railway terminus.
• Arona to Domodossola Direct Alignment (1905): The decision to bore the Simplon Tunnel through the Alps between Iselle di Trasquera and Brig made a direct, high-capacity connection between Milan and Domodossola essential. The Italian government and the Società per le Strade Ferrate del Mediterraneo built the shoreline and lower Ossola link connecting Arona, Stresa, Baveno, Mergozzo, and Domodossola. This definitive 56-kilometre alignment opened in 1905, just months before the Simplon Tunnel was officially inaugurated by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy in May 1906.

Electrification and Modernization

Following its completion, the line experienced rapid traffic growth. The international traffic carried through the Simplon Tunnel necessitated early adoption of electric traction. The Simplon Tunnel itself was initially electrified using a Swiss three-phase alternating current system (3,000 V at 15 Hz, later 16.7 Hz), which extended into Domodossola station.

The domestic Italian section between Milan and Domodossola was initially operated using steam locomotives. In the early decades of the twentieth century, the Italian state railway (Ferrovie dello Stato, formed in 1905) converted sections of the line to three-phase AC electrification. Between 1935 and the late 1940s, the entire line was converted to the Italian standard 3,000 V direct current (DC) overhead catenary system. This conversion allowed heavy electric locomotives to haul passenger and freight trains from the plain of Milan directly to the international locomotive-exchange tracks at Domodossola.

Historical Interaction with Local Industry

The railway line profoundly transformed the economy of the lower Val d'Ossola and its relationship to the Val Grande massif. For centuries, the Val Grande was not a protected wilderness, but an exploited rural landscape. Mountain farmers cleared high pastures, while woodcutters systematically logged the interior forests of beech, fir, and chestnut. Timber was converted into charcoal or transported out of the valleys via complex networks of log chutes (soende), cableways, and river drives.

The construction of the railway provided an efficient transport route for natural resources extracted from the fringes of the massif. At Candoglia, on the eastern bank of the Toce River directly opposite Ornavasso, the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano had quarried pink-streaked white marble since 1387 to construct and maintain Milan Cathedral. Historically, the marble was floated down the Toce, across Lake Maggiore, down the Ticino River, and along the Naviglio Grande canal into central Milan. The railway provided an all-weather transport route that supplemented and eventually replaced the waterway system for industrial freight.

The opening of the railway also triggered the expansion of quarrying along the western shoreline of Lake Maggiore. The pink granite of Baveno and the white granite of Montorfano were loaded directly onto railcars for transport to major civil engineering projects throughout Europe and the Americas.

World War II and the Partisan Republic of Ossola

During the Second World War, the geographical corridor containing the Milano–Domodossola railway became a battleground between Axis forces and Italian anti-fascist partisans. The inaccessible valleys and razorback ridges of the Val Grande massif served as an operations base and refuge for partisan brigades, including the Brigata Cesare Battisti and the Divisione Valdossola.

In September 1944, partisan forces liberated the entire valley from Nazi and Fascist control, establishing the Partisan Republic of Ossola (Repubblica dell'Ossola). Domodossola served as the capital of this democratic, autonomous government, which existed for forty days. Partisans relied on control of local transport lines to manage supplies from Switzerland.

In response, German military forces and the Italian Fascist militia (Black Brigades) launched a massive counteroffensive known as the grande rastrellamento (the great roundup). Hundreds of resistance fighters and local civilians were killed as Axis troops swept through the Val Grande wilderness. Partisan combatants blew up rail sections, bridges, and culverts along the Milano–Domodossola line to slow down armored trains and troop transports. Following the war, rural depopulation accelerated across northern Italy; alpine pastoralism and logging in Val Grande ceased entirely, permitting nature to reclaim the interior and leading eventually to the creation of the national park.

Route Infrastructure and Technical Profile

The Milano–Domodossola railway operates under high-density mixed-traffic conditions. The line serves long-distance international passenger trains, high-frequency regional commuter trains, and international intermodal freight trains running on tight headways (the time interval between consecutive trains).

Physical and Technical Parameters

The infrastructure is maintained by RFI and meets the standards of the European Union's Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). The technical parameters of the line are characterized by:

• Gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge across the entire route.
• Tracks: Double-track throughout, equipped for bi-directional operation (banalizzazione) using automatic block signalling, allowing trains to run in either direction on both tracks during maintenance or service disruptions.
• Electrification: 3,000 V DC overhead catenary. Electrical substations placed at regular intervals convert high-voltage transmission power down to the contact line voltage.
• Maximum Gradients: The route features mild gradients across the Po plain and lower Ossola (mostly between 2 and 6 per thousand), with localized sections along the rocky contours of Lake Maggiore reaching up to 10 to 12 per thousand.
• Speed Limits: Line speeds range from 160 to 180 km/h on the flat, straight stretches between Rho and Gallarate. Speeds decrease to 110 to 130 km/h along the curving shores of Lake Maggiore between Arona and Stresa, before increasing to 140 to 150 km/h on the floor of the Val d'Ossola.
• Signalling and Train Protection: The entire route is equipped with the Sistema di Controllo della Marcia del Treno (SCMT), the standard Italian train protection system that continuously monitors speed against signal aspects. Major junctions are controlled by Computer-Based Interlockings (Apparato Centrale Computerizzato, or ACC). Key sections along the international corridor have been fitted with European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 1 and Level 2 overlay systems to ensure cross-border interoperability.

Detailed Route Description

The line begins at Milano Centrale railway station, one of Europe's largest stub-end passenger terminals. It proceeds northwest through the urban agglomeration of Greater Milan, utilizing a four-track trunk line shared with the Turin–Milan traditional mainline as far as Rho. At Rho, the line branches northwest across the industrial plain of the Altomilanese, serving the manufacturing towns of Legnano and Busto Arsizio.

At Gallarate (kilometre 40), the line acts as a major railway junction. Lines diverge northeast toward Varese and Porto Ceresio, and north toward Laveno and Luino along the eastern shore of Lake Maggiore. The Domodossola line curves westward, descending through the pine forests of the Parco Naturale del Ticino to reach Sesto Calende.

At Sesto Calende, the line crosses the Ticino River over an iron truss bridge that marks the regional boundary between Lombardy and Piedmont. The railway enters the southern basin of Lake Maggiore at Dormelletto and Arona. Arona is a major operational hub and junction where the line from Novara converges.

North of Arona, the railway enters its most scenic and topographically constrained section. For approximately 25 kilometres, the double-track line is wedged between the granite cliffs of the Vergante hills and the shoreline of Lake Maggiore. The alignment requires extensive retaining walls, rock-cut galleries, and short tunnels as it passes through the international resort towns of Meina, Lesa, Belgirate, Stresa, and Baveno. This segment offers views across the Borromean Gulf to Isola Bella, Isola Madre, and Isola dei Pescatori.

North of Baveno, the railway swings around Montorfano, an isolated dome of white granite that marks the structural end of Lake Maggiore's western gulf. The line passes Lake Mergozzo, a body of water that was cut off from Lake Maggiore over the last thousand years by sediment deposits from the Toce River.

At Mergozzo, the railway officially enters the Val d'Ossola. The tracks run straight along the western side of the Toce River floodplain. At Premosello-Chiovenda, the line runs parallel to the single-track secondary line from Novara via Omegna. From this junction north to Domodossola, two distinct railways occupy the valley floor, creating a four-track transit corridor through parts of the valley. Passing Vogogna—historic seat of the medieval Visconti administration in the region—and Beura-Cardezza, the railway arrives at the Domodossola complex.

Note: Distances are measured using official RFI progressive chainages. Historically, chainages reset at major operating boundaries such as Arona and Domodossola; the values above represent continuous operational tracking from Milan.

The Domodossola Railway Complex and Transalpine Operations

Domodossola serves as the northern terminus of the Milano–Domodossola line and acts as an international border and classification hub. Geographically situated in a broad alluvial basin where seven alpine valleys meet, the town has accommodated transport infrastructure since antiquity.

Domodossola Passenger Station

The passenger station features passenger platforms covered by canopies, customs inspection facilities, and track arrangements designed to accommodate both Italian domestic trains and Swiss international services. Domodossola is also the Italian terminus of the 1,000 mm (metre gauge) Domodossola–Locarno railway (known in Italy as the Ferrovia Vigezzina and in Switzerland as the Centovalli). This narrow-gauge line connects the Ossola directly to Locarno in the Swiss canton of Ticino, passing through the rugged mountain country immediately north of the Val Grande massif.

Immediately north of Domodossola passenger station, the railway begins its steep climb into the upper Val Divedro toward Iselle di Trasquera, where trains enter the southern portal of the 19.8-kilometre Simplon Tunnel. Northbound international trains switch from Italy's 3,000 V DC electrification to the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS) 15,000 V AC 16.7 Hz system near the border, using dual-system electric locomotives or multi-system electric multiple units.

The Domo II Freight Marshalling Yard

Located roughly four kilometres south of Domodossola, between the municipalities of Beura-Cardezza and Trontano, sits Domo II (also known as Domodossola Scalo). Built in the 1980s and expanded during the 1990s, Domo II is one of Italy's largest freight marshalling yards. The facility covers an area of several hundred thousand square metres along the Toce floodplain, directly beneath the rock escarpments of the Val Grande.

Domo II operates as a classification, customs, and intermodal hub for freight passing through the Alps via the Simplon route. It features extensive reception and departure tracks capable of handling standard 740-metre European freight trains, specialized tracks for dangerous goods, and a large intermodal transshipment terminal. Here, electric locomotives belonging to Italian and Swiss freight operators (such as Mercitalia Rail, SBB Cargo International, BLS Cargo, and DB Cargo) are exchanged, and safety inspections are completed before trains tackle the steep transalpine grades leading to the Simplon Tunnel.

Train Services and Economic Role

The Milano–Domodossola line functions simultaneously as a suburban commuter artery, a long-distance passenger transit line, and a critical component of the European freight network.

Passenger Traffic

Passenger operations on the line are divided into three distinct categories:

• Regionale Veloce (RE4): Operated primarily by Trenord, the regional rail operator of Lombardy, in partnership with the Piedmont region. These trains operate every two hours (with hourly service during peak periods) between Milano Centrale and Domodossola. They serve major stations such as Busto Arsizio, Gallarate, Sesto Calende, Arona, Stresa, and Verbania, providing a fast commuter link with journey times of approximately one hour and forty minutes.
• Regional Services (R23): Stopping services operated by Trenord between Arona and Domodossola, serving all minor stations along Lake Maggiore and the Val d'Ossola floor, including Belgirate, Lesa, Meina, Mergozzo, Candoglia-Ornavasso, Cuzzago, Premosello-Chiovenda, Vogogna, and Beura-Cardezza.
• EuroCity (EC): Jointly operated by Trenitalia and Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS). These long-distance international services run every two hours between Milano Centrale and destinations in Switzerland, including Geneva Airport (via Brig, Sion, and Lausanne) and Basel SBB (via Brig, Spiez, and Bern). They utilize multi-system tilting trainsets (such as the Alstom ETR 610 / SBB RABe 503) that can navigate both Italian and Swiss signalling systems and electrical grids.

Freight Traffic and the Rhine-Alpine Corridor

The railway forms a vital southern link in the Rhine-Alpine Corridor, one of the priority corridors of the European Union's TEN-T network. This freight route connects the major North Sea ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Amsterdam through the Rhine Valley and Switzerland to the Mediterranean port of Genoa and the industrial logistics hubs of the Po Plain.

Freight traffic through Domodossola consists primarily of:

• Intermodal Container Trains: Transporting maritime shipping containers and swap bodies between northern European logistics terminals and dry ports in northern Italy, such as the freight village at Novara (Interporto di Novara) and the Milanese terminals of Busto Arsizio-Gallarate and Segrate.
• The Rolling Highway (Autostrada Viaggiante / RoLa): Specialized low-floor trains operated by RAlpin that transport whole tractor-trailers and their drivers through the Alps between Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany and Novara in Italy via the Simplon Tunnel and Domodossola. This service diverts heavy freight vehicles off Swiss and Italian mountain highways.
• Conventional Freight: Transporting raw materials, chemicals, automotive components, and processed metals between Italian and northern European manufacturing clusters.

The 4-Metre Corridor (P400 Upgrade)

Historically, the dimensions of nineteenth-century tunnels and trackside structures along the Lake Maggiore and Val d'Ossola sections prevented standard high-cube semi-trailers (which have a corner height of 4.0 metres when loaded on rail pocket wagons) from using the line. This physical limit is referred to in rail terminology as the loading gauge.

Between 2018 and 2024, the Italian government, RFI, and the Swiss Federal Office of Transport (FOT) funded a multi-million-euro infrastructure modernization project known as the "4-Metre Corridor" (Corridoio 4 metri). Crews enlarged historical tunnels along the lake, lowered track beds, modified overhead catenary equipment, and relocated platforms between Arona, Stresa, and Domodossola. This engineering initiative achieved the standard P400 loading gauge profile, allowing standard road semi-trailers up to 4 metres high to travel by rail across the entire route from Milan to the Swiss border.

The Geography of Separation: Railway Corridor vs. Val Grande Wilderness

The relationship between the Milano–Domodossola railway and the Parco Nazionale della Val Grande represents a clear example of environmental and infrastructural separation enforced by extreme topography.

The Barrier of the Crystalline Massif

The Val Grande National Park is often described as the largest wilderness area in Italy because it has zero permanent human residents, no paved roads within its perimeter, and no vehicle access routes. The interior of the park is protected from infrastructural development by the geological structure of the mountain wall that faces the railway.

Between Mergozzo and Beura-Cardezza, the eastern wall of the Val d'Ossola consists of near-vertical cliffs and steeply inclined ravines composed of crystalline basement rocks belonging to the Southern Alpine domain. The bedrock consists of hard, erosion-resistant lithologies: amphibolites, diorites, kinzigites, and peridotites belonging to the geological structure known as the Ivrea-Verbano Zone.

These rock walls offered no natural gaps, low passes, or gentle slopes suitable for building roads or branch railway lines into the interior. When nineteenth-century engineers designed the railway, and twentieth-century roadbuilders constructed the superstrada, they remained exclusively on the flat river bed of the Toce. The vertical difference of more than 1,500 metres between the railway tracks and the summits prevented cross-mountain links from extending east into the Val Grande.

Gateway Stations for Wilderness Access

Although the railway does not pass through the park, it serves as the primary public transit corridor for hikers, mountaineers, and researchers accessing the wilderness. Several small stations along the line function as historic trailheads (Porte del Parco):

• Verbania-Pallanza: Located at Fondotoce, this station provides bus links to the southern gateway communities of San Bernardino Verbano and Cossogno, leading to the entrance of the Val Grande canyon via the Ponte Casletto.
• Mergozzo: Serves as the starting point for trails ascending the southeastern ridge of the park, including the footpath to the summit of Monte Faiè (1,352 metres), which marks the southern boundary of the national park.
• Premosello-Chiovenda: The historic trailhead for crossing the Val Grande from west to east. From Premosello station (elevation 220 m), a mule track climbs through the hamlet of Colloro up to the Bocchetta di Premosello (elevation 2,228 m), an alpine notch that provides hiking access down into the central gorge of the Rio Valgrande.
• Vogogna Ossola: Offers trail access to the historical terraces, chestnut woods, and abandoned alpine pastures of the Genestredo area on the southwestern rim of the park.
• Beura-Cardezza: The trailhead for the rugged Valle di Rio Cardezza. Trails climb from Beura station directly into the northern sector of the park toward the Bivacco Pozzolo and the high pass of the Bocchetta di Fornalè.

Because these footpaths ascend through extreme elevation gains (frequently exceeding 1,500 vertical metres over short horizontal distances) across unmarked, exposed terrain subject to sudden weather changes, the Italian Alpine Club (CAI) and the National Park Authority classify most interior routes as requiring advanced wilderness navigation skills.

Geological Hazards and Environmental Defenses

The narrow corridor containing the Milano–Domodossola railway through the lower Val d'Ossola and along Lake Maggiore is vulnerable to alpine geological and hydrological hazards. The proximity of the sheer Val Grande mountain walls creates operational risks that require continuous engineering intervention.

Slope Instability and Rockfalls

The western faces of the Val Grande massif rising above the railway are subject to weathering, freeze-thaw cycles, and gravity-induced slope failures (caduta massi). Fractured rock faces along the steep slopes above Vogogna, Premosello, and Mergozzo present rockfall risks to the railway tracks and the adjacent SP166 road.

RFI utilizes several layers of engineering defenses to safeguard the rail corridor:

• Elastic Rockfall Catchment Barriers: High-tensile steel wire nets and energy-absorbing barrier fences anchored into bedrock above the tracks to capture descending boulders.
• Reinforced Concrete Rock Sheds: Artificial galleries built directly over the tracks along exposed rock faces, allowing falling rocks and debris to slide over the railway and into the valley floor without striking trains.
• Active Geotechnical Anchoring: Installing deep steel rock bolts, tiebacks, and steel wire mesh drapery directly onto unstable rock outcrops on the lower slopes flanking the railway.
• Electronic Monitoring and Sensor Networks: Optical sensors, tiltmeters, and seismic acoustic wires installed along the rock walls that automatically drop rail signals to "stop" if a boulder breaches the safety perimeter or falls onto the tracks.

Hydrological Risks: The Toce River and Lake Floods

The floor of the Val d'Ossola is a dynamic fluvial environment. The Toce River drains a massive Alpine catchment area covering over 1,700 square kilometres, drawing run-off from the high peaks of the Pennine and Lepontine Alps. During periods of heavy, persistent autumn rainfall (known locally as alluvioni), the Toce is prone to severe flash flooding.

Catastrophic flood events in 1978, 1993, and 2000 resulted in the river overtopping its banks, washing out track embankments, undermining bridge abutments, and flooding yards at Domodossola and along the lower valley. In response, regional hydraulic authorities and RFI constructed elevated rip-rap embankments, widened river channels, and elevated vulnerable rail bridges across the Toce and its torrential mountain tributaries.

Similarly, the shoreline segment along Lake Maggiore is exposed to lake level fluctuations. Sustained precipitation across the alpine watershed can cause Lake Maggiore to rise several metres above its baseline level. At high water stages (piena), lake water can submerge low-lying platform infrastructure and trackbeds in stations like Stresa and Baveno. Engineering defenses along the lake include continuous reinforced sea walls, elevated track alignments, and heavy rock rip-rap breakwaters designed to dissipate wave energy during winter and spring storms.

See also

• Simplon Tunnel
• Val d'Ossola
• Parco Nazionale della Val Grande
• Toce River
• Rhine-Alpine Corridor
• Rete Ferroviaria Italiana
• SBB CFF FFS
• Trenord
• Domodossola–Locarno railway
• Candoglia marble