Meina

Meina ( Piedmontese and Lombard Meina ) is a municipality with 2519 inhabitants ( 31 December 2012) on Italy's west shore of Lake Maggiore, in the Province of Novara in the Piedmont region.

The nearest large towns are in the north and in the south of Lesa Arona.

The present territory of the city has been inhabited since the Bronze Age. The place is known for its luxurious villas from the 18th and 19th centuries. The palatial building whose architectural styles ranging from classicism to art nouveau, can best be surveyed from the lake. Sprawling parks surround the stately mansions. Worth mentioning is the Villa Faraggiana Ferrandi, which was built in 1885 in neoclassical style, and is home to the Botanical Museum.

Mid- September 1943 celebrated soldiers of the German Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler in Meina a mass murder of 16 Jews who had found the Hotel Meina from other European countries refuge. This massacre of Meina is probably the most famous single event of the first mass murders of Jews in Italy. ( Coming right side of Arona) A memorial stone in the Parco della Fratellanza at the entrance reminded of this crime.