Explore Besano, Varese, Italy, with this interactive street and satellite map. You can “grab” the Besano map and move it around to re-centre it, switch between the standard street map and satellite imagery, and use the zoom buttons to go from the whole province down to street-level detail.
This page also offers a second, independent map. Click the green 🔍 Search Maps button below the map to open OpenStreetMap coverage of the whole of Italy, with a labelled UTM grid drawn the way an IGM 1:25 000 sheet draws it, a distance and bearing tool, and a GPS reading that reports your position in Gauss-Boaga and UTM as well as latitude and longitude. See How to Use This Map below. Local and world news, and the nearby places worth visiting, are further down the page.
Esplora Besano, Varese, con questa carta interattiva: puoi trascinare la mappa per ricentrarla, passare dalla veduta stradale a quella satellitare e usare i pulsanti di zoom per scendere fino al dettaglio delle vie.
La pagina offre anche una seconda carta indipendente. Il pulsante 🔍 Search Maps apre la copertura OpenStreetMap di tutta l'Italia, con la griglia UTM quotata come su una tavoletta IGM 1:25 000, lo strumento per misurare distanze e azimut, e la lettura GPS della posizione in Gauss-Boaga e UTM oltre che in latitudine e longitudine.
Map search is available for a limited number of queries per session to manage costs. Be specific — search precisely for best results.
This interactive map shows the street layout and satellite imagery for Besano, Varese, Italy. Use the Map and Satellite buttons to switch between the street map and aerial photography. Use the + and − buttons to zoom, or hold the Control key while scrolling the mouse wheel. On a touchscreen, pinch with two fingers. Drag the map to pan anywhere in Varese or beyond.
Click ⛶ Fullscreen to expand the map to fill the screen. To go back, press Escape, click ✕ Exit Fullscreen above the map, or on a phone tap the back button (Android) or the close icon (iOS).
SEARCH MAPS. The green 🔍 Search Maps button below the map opens a second, independent map on OpenStreetMap coverage of the whole country. Its search box finds any Italian comune, frazione, mountain or landmark by name, so you are not limited to Besano.
Reading the map like an IGM sheet. Click Grid to lay a labelled UTM grid over the map, quoted along the edges the way a printed IGM 1:25 000 tavoletta quotes it — at normal zoom the squares are one kilometre across, so a six-figure reference can be read by eye and distance judged straight off the map. Click Measure and tap two points for the distance between them with the grid, true and magnetic bearings, the last being the one to set on a compass.
Click 📍 My position for a single GPS fix. It marks where you are and reports it as Gauss-Boaga (the grid printed on the IGM Carta d'Italia), as ETRS89 / UTM (the grid Italy uses today), and as plain latitude and longitude, with a copy button so it can be pasted into a message. It takes one reading and stops, to save the battery. Map tiles need mobile coverage; a GPS reading does not — so the grid reference stays correct in the Apennines and the Alps, where the map itself often will not load.
Usa i pulsanti Map e Satellite per passare dalla carta stradale alla fotografia aerea, i pulsanti + e − per lo zoom, e trascina la mappa per spostarti. Il pulsante 🔍 Search Maps apre una seconda carta su OpenStreetMap con la ricerca di qualsiasi comune, frazione o cima d'Italia, la griglia UTM quotata come su una tavoletta IGM 1:25 000, la misura di distanze e azimut (di griglia, vero e magnetico) e la lettura GPS della posizione in Gauss-Boaga, in ETRS89/UTM e in coordinate geografiche. Le tessere della mappa richiedono la rete mobile, la lettura GPS no: il riferimento resta valido anche dove la carta non si carica.
| Comune | Besano |
| Province / Provincia | Varese |
| Region / Regione | Lombardy (Lombardia) |
| Country / Paese | Italy / Italia |
| Latitude | 45.88944 |
| Longitude | 8.891294 |
| Population 2021 | 2,509 |
| Main centre / Capoluogo | 2,480 |
| Altitude | 350 m |
| River or stream / Fiume o torrente | Fiume Olona (7.6 km south-west) |
| Lake / Lago | Lago di Ganna (5.1 km west) |
| Reservoir / Lago artificiale | Laghetto Cicogna (3.5 km south-west) |
| Nearest summit / Vetta più vicina | Monte S. Elia (1.2 km south-east); Monte Legnone (7.6 km west) |
| Pass / Passo | Passo Varrò (7.9 km west) |
| Valley / Valle | Valle dei Ponticelli (0.7 km east) |
| Protected area / Area protetta | Parco Campo dei Fiori (4.6 km west) |
Besano sits on a hill, overlooking the rugged terrain where the Valle dei Ponticelli carves its path. The air here holds the crisp, thin quality of the prealpine slopes, far removed from the heavy stillness of the plains. Nearby, the water of the Lago di Lugano creates a pale, reflective border against the rising dark mass of Monte S. Elia. The landscape is defined by these sharp transitions between the wooded valley floors and the sudden, stony ascents that dominate the local horizon.
Within the village, the Museo civico dei fossili di Besano preserves the remnants of an ancient, vanished world found in the local rock. A short journey leads to the ruins of the Castello di Cuasso, which remain fixed on the ridge, and the heights of Monte Orsa, offering a quiet vantage point over the surrounding slopes. Those walking toward the nearby Villa Cicogna Mozzoni find a structure grounded firmly in the valley, its form echoing the steady, deliberate rhythm of the land and the quiet persistence of the surrounding hills.
Besano si adagia su una collina, dominando un territorio dove la Valle dei Ponticelli scava il suo solco nel terreno. L'aria possiede qui la nitidezza pungente dei versanti prealpini, distante dalla pesante immobilità della pianura. Poco lontano, il Lago di Lugano disegna un confine pallido e riflettente contro la massa scura del Monte S. Elia. Il paesaggio è definito da questi passaggi netti tra i fondovalle boscosi e le improvvise, pietrose ascese che dominano l'orizzonte locale.
All'interno del borgo, il Museo civico dei fossili di Besano custodisce le testimonianze di un mondo antico riemerse dalla roccia. Un breve tragitto conduce ai ruderi del Castello di Cuasso, fissati sul crinale, e alle alture del Monte Orsa, che offrono un punto di osservazione silenzioso sui pendii circostanti. Chi si incammina verso la vicina Villa Cicogna Mozzoni trova una struttura ben radicata nella valle, la cui forma rispecchia il ritmo calmo del territorio e la tenace presenza delle colline circostanti.
Distances are straight-line from the map centre. / Distanze in linea d'aria. Linked names open Wikipedia.
| Comune | Distance | Direction | Population |
| Cuasso al Monte | 1.1 km | north-west | 3,574 |
| Porto Ceresio | 1.7 km | north | 2,838 |
| Viggiù | 2.5 km | south-east | 5,167 |
| Bisuschio | 2.6 km | south-west | 4,250 |
| Saltrio | 3.1 km | south-east | 2,987 |
| Clivio | 4.2 km | south-east | 1,938 |
| Arcisate | 4.3 km | south-west | 9,915 |
| Marzio | 6.0 km | north-west | 310 |
Explore Besano, Varese, Italy, with an embedded Google street and satellite map — switch between the two with the buttons on the map. Coordinates: 45.88944, 8.891294. Place names, the comune and provincia hierarchy and the population come from Istat: the administrative boundaries of 1 January 2026 and the 2021 census of inhabited localities. Local and world news feeds keep the page current, and the bilingual description is written from the data this site holds rather than copied from elsewhere. The 30 nearby places listed above are drawn from OpenStreetMap, the IGM toponym database and a curated list checked against Wikipedia.
Search Maps opens a second, independent map. It searches OpenStreetMap for any Italian comune, frazione, mountain or landmark by name; overlays a labelled UTM grid quoted the way a printed IGM 1:25 000 tavoletta quotes it; measures distance with grid, true and magnetic bearings between any two points; and takes a single GPS fix reporting your position as a Gauss-Boaga reference, as ETRS89 / UTM, and as latitude and longitude. Map tiles need mobile coverage, but a GPS position does not, so the grid reference stays correct where the map cannot load.
There is no topographic layer on these pages. The Istituto Geografico Militare serves its Carta d'Italia only inside the EU, so an Italian equivalent of the 1:25 000 walking sheet cannot be shown here — the UTM grid over OpenStreetMap is what stands in its place.
Carta interattiva di Besano, Varese, con veduta stradale e satellitare. Toponimi, gerarchia comune/provincia e popolazione provengono dall'Istat: confini amministrativi al 1° gennaio 2026 e censimento 2021 delle località abitate. Il pulsante Search Maps apre una seconda carta su OpenStreetMap con ricerca per nome, griglia UTM quotata come su una tavoletta IGM 1:25 000, misura di distanze e azimut, e lettura GPS in Gauss-Boaga, ETRS89/UTM e coordinate geografiche. Non è presente un livello topografico: l'IGM distribuisce la Carta d'Italia solo all'interno dell'Unione Europea.
| Page built | October 2026 |
| Place data | Istat confini amministrativi and basi territoriali (località abitate, censimento 2021) © Istat (2026) CC BY 4.0. Data modified / Dati modificati: coordinates converted from UTM zone 32N to WGS84; page addresses use unaccented names; officially bilingual names are split into their Italian and minority-language forms. |
| Map layers | Google Maps; © OpenStreetMap contributors; Carta IGM © Istituto Geografico Militare (2026) CC BY 4.0; magnetic declination from NOAA NCEI (World Magnetic Model) |
| Nearby places | © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); landmarks, heritage, protected areas and landscape from IGM DBTI (CC BY 4.0); curated landmark lists verified against Wikipedia |