Experts in navigation

Steam navigation began on Lake Orta in 1878. The first two steam boats were the Mergozzolo and the Cusio. The coal-fired boats were replaced by fast and capable powerboats with diesel engines: the San Giulio, with a capacity of 200 people, the Prince of Piedmont and the Ettore Motta, that sailed on Cusio's waters during the most difficult decades of the twentieth century.

"The first boats were rowing boats, with flat keels. They moored on shore; canopies gave cover from bad weather. They were built by craftsmen at Bagnera, using larch from the Ossola and black locust wood, copper nails, ropes and pitch to seal the fissures, flaxseed oil to waterproof. It took about 40 days of work to build a boat. - You can read this article in the Magazine Villa Crespi. With the Industrial Revolution, steamships were introduced and then small motorboats. In the 1950s, the employment of the Venetian taxi was not unusual. Even the form of work, once individual, took on group form, and 1923 saw the foundation of the Co-operative of the Motoscafists (the motorboat drivers). To the families of Orta: Giacomini, Urani, and Zaneboni, were added the Garau, Uselli, Zanetta and Fabris from the Po Delta.

Nowadays, the Public Boat Service Consortium has a fleet of eight modern motorboats, with which it manages its own Navigation and Exclusive Services, providing a boat service 365 days a year, and meeting all travelers’ requirements, thanks to the professionalism that characterizes our name and our trade ever since 1923. You can also find us on facebook, on the official page of the Consorzio Navigazione Servizio Pubblico del Lago d'Orta.