If you’re unlucky with the weather, cheer yourself up with an enjoyable soak in hot water pools. At Premia, an hour’s drive from Lake Maggiore you’ll find the region’s only true hot springs, comprising several pools and a spa centre.

 

 

The water, gushing out from the mountains at a temperature of 44° was purportedly discovered several decades ago during works on a nearby hydro-electric power station and the “terme” were opened in 2008 in a large, attractively designed stone and wood building.

The facility boasts indoor and outdoor pools including cervical jets and bubble jets, as well as a separate spa/wellness centre offering saunas, Turkish baths, a dry hay sauna, a relaxation room, an icy plunge pool, beauty treatments, massages, and treatment for various conditions.

The setting is splendid, offering views of precipitous cliff faces on either side of the valley and, for most of the year, a dramatic waterfall plunging off the cliff-top plateau before hitting the valley floor.

Compared to its much longer-established rival in Switzerland, Leukerbad, several hours away by car, and therefore usually requiring an overnight stay, Premia is arguably more picturesque, and certainly cheaper.

Premia can be combined with a trip to the nearby Germanic Walser villages in Val Formazza or Salecchio.

After an exhausting trek or, in winter, after a hard day’s cross-country skiing, a soak in the hot water is the height of self-indulgence, especially as day turns to night and the underwater lights are turned on.

If you're lucky enough to be there in winter as snow falls, the experience is truly magical.

Other than the Tate Modern in Bankside Power Station, few would associate power stations with art and culture.

 

Art Deco power stations

Yet, in Italy, there is an area between Domodossola and the Swiss border which is peppered with gorgeous art deco influenced buildings comprising a playful, eclectic mishmash of styles with the common theme being the desire to astonish.

Hence we have references by the famous Italian architect, Piero Portaluppi, to classicism, neo-gothic, futurism and above all, art deco. The most impressive example is Cadarese, adjacent to where the hot water springs were originally discovered. Other stunning hydro-electric power stations, all designed by Portaluppi, can be seen at Crevoladossola - boasting an astonishing pagoda flourish - and at nearby Verampio.