Discover Rima: Walser Culture and Alpine Trails

Rima between Walser Culture and Alpine Pastures

Rima brings together Walser building styles, alpine trails and cultural sites. When planning your trip, it is easy to distinguish the main highlights: the architecture showcases a specific Walser house model, while trails run through alpine pastures and woodland and grazing landscapes. Other sights include the Santuario della Madonna delle Grazie, megalithic remains in Vallè di Sopra and a workshop for artificial marble. This lets you explore Rima through its cultural history and connection with nature.

Walser Architecture and Cultural Sites

In the second half of the 14th century, Rima developed from an alpine pasture into a permanent settlement. Rima’s Walser house model is a distinctive architectural highlight: it combines stone ground floors with upper floors and attics made of horizontally interlocking logs. Wide galleries are also characteristic, as are roofs covered with Beola stone slabs. The transition from stone below to wood above is the model’s defining feature. The settlement’s history places Rima in its historical context, while the house model draws attention to its specific building style. These two perspectives give the cultural highlights different emphases.

Individual huts stand at Alpe Lanciole di Sopra. Other huts are arranged in rows running from higher to lower ground; this layout provides protection and shelter from avalanches.

The Santuario della Madonna delle Grazie stands at the foot of Rima. Its façade is attributed to A. Orgiazzi il Vecchio. A trail near Rima leads to Vallè di Sopra, where megalithic remains known as “Antiche Dimore” are located.

The traditional craft of artificial marble is also part of the area’s cultural heritage. At the workshop of the Associazione del Marmo Artificiale in Rima, master craftsman Dellavedova shares the traditional “secret” of artificial marble.

Alpine Landscape and Trails

A large part of the area around Rima is protected by the Parco Naturale Alta Valsesia and is ideal for observing typical alpine flora and fauna. The easy Anello degli Alpeggi trail passes through the alpine pastures of the Rima basin and returns to Rima, its starting point. Along the loop in the Rima basin lies one of the oldest groups of alpine pasture settlements; a stone bears the engraved date 1650.

The GTA stage from Rima to Carcoforo starts in Rima’s church square. A sign there lists walking times, and trail markers for route 93 make it easy to get started. The route passes through woodland and grazing landscapes on the edge of or within the Parco Naturale Alta Valsesia.

The different routes offer a practical guide to choosing a trail: the Anello is easy and returns to Rima, while the GTA starts in the church square with the Rima–Carcoforo stage. You can choose between a loop through the alpine pastures and a stage whose starting point is marked with walking times and trail markers.

Rima is easily accessible by car. If you are looking for a hotel in Rima, when planning your trip you can decide whether you would rather explore the village through its Walser architecture and cultural sites or via the trails through the alpine pastures.

Discover more destinations: Cellio, San Genuario, Pila, Carisio, Albano Vercellese, Ferrera, Varallo, Piode

For the broader travel overview: Vercelli.