The municipality borders on Pettenasco to the north, Miasino and Ameno to the east, Bolzano Novarese and Gozzano to the south, and San Maurizio d'Opaglio and Pella to the west across the lake.

In May 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche and Lou Andreas-Salomé, accompanied by her mother and a mutual friend, visited Orta for a few days on their way back from a Grand Tour of Italy.

Villa Crespi is a 19th-century Moorish revival-style rural palace located in Orta, and is now a luxury hotel and restaurant managed by chef and restaurateur Antonino Cannavacciuolo.

Cristoforo Benigno Crespi, the owner who commissioned this wonderful mansion, wanted the villa to remind him of the buildings he saw during his working trips to the Middle East.

It includes: The devotional path ends with the Church of Saint Francis and Nicolao, a proto-Romanic building that was then remodelled in the 17th century so that it would resemble the Lower Basilica of Assisi.