Between Baceno and Croveo, along the Albrunpass merchant road, stands the ancient village of Cuggine. Here is still preserved almost intact the rural plant of “passage settlement “.
The village, which has not undergone any transformation in the modern era, consists of about ten stone houses and is an important example of traditional architecture of the Ossola Valley. The architecture includes mighty stone walls, twin portals, slit windows and monumental portals. You can still see the remains of a square tower that, together with the houses, composes a perfect model of medieval architecture of the Antigorio Valley.
Between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries Cuggine had an important role as a stopping point for the caravans merchants traveling between Milan and Bern, travelling by the arduous crossing of the Alps through the Bocchetta d’Arbola.
The role of the village was reduced in the seventeenth century both because of the epidemics of plague that killed the inhabitants, and for the use of the new “Via del Sempione”, built thanks to the huge investments supported by Baron Kaspar Jodok von Stockalper.
The oldest building in Cuggine dates back to the 11th century: the date engraved on the architrave of the portal of that building, 1582, in fact, refers to restoration work that took place later. A monumental stone portal decorated with carved figures is one of the most remote examples of secular art in Val d’Ossola.
