This health resort and commercial town in the province of Novara is on the west side of the north basin of Lake Maggiore. It is situated at the mouth of the Cannobio Valley which links it to the Vigezzo Valley. In the town itself is the Palazzo della Ragione, built by the ruler Ugolino Mandello in the thirteenth century. Beside it is the twelfth century Romanesque Torre del Comune (town tower).

On the lakeside you can visit the Sanctuary of the Pietà which was built at the end of the sixteenth century. It has a seventeenth century octagonal cupola and contains an altar piece by Gaudenzio Ferrari. Three kilometres from Cannobio is the deep, narrow Sant’Anna ravine, created by the River Cannobio and of great natural interest.