This ancient town of Roman origin (as it is recorded by a votive first-century A D marble cippus guarded in the Church of St Stefano) grown on the strip of land which enters the lake just opposite the Borromeo Gulf, is now a well known tourist resort rich in hotels, villas and parks.

To visit the old town means to walk along ancient quarters and squares bordered by luxury period buildings with attractive architectonic elements like colonnades, porchs, capitals and archivolts. The two mediaeval cores called "la Villa" and "la Piazza" are still recognizable.

The first one is situated on the slopes of the fine Castagnola headland and includes the church of St Stefano, Piazza Pasqué and via Guglielmazzi.
The second one, instead, stretches along the bank of the lake going from via Cietti to the church of St Leonardo and includes interesting buildings: Palazzo di Città (now houses Verbania town hall), a nineteenth-century building with a porch constituted by 32 pillars in pink granite from Baveno; Palazzo Morigia, which dates back to the middle of the fifteenth century and is characterized by valuable frescoes of that time; Palazzo Viani-Dugnani, built between the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, which houses since 1909 the rich Museo del Paesaggio; Palazzo Biumi-Innocenti, whose origins are mediaeval, was enlarged during the seventeenth and the nineteenth centuries and now houses the section of popular worship of the Museo del Paesaggio with a collection of about 5000 votive offerings.
Piazza Pedroni is the junction element between the two ancient cores of the town. It was built in the second half of the nineteenth century, and is surrounded on three sides by a colonnade with a fine a vela vaulting.

Yet, the lakeside offers an attractive promenade which on one side ravishes with the archipelago of the Borromeo islands, on the other side fascinates for the uninterrupted series of polychrome facades, colonnades, small balconies decorated with flowers, terraces, shops and coffee bars.
The promenade, animated by tourists during the day and at night time, constitutes the main meeting place in town and the setting for important tourist events like the "Corso Fiorito", firework displays and "Palio Remiero".