Isola Bella and Isola Madre on Lake Maggiore
In the Gulf of Borromeo, on the Piedmontese shore of Lake Maggiore, in front of Stresa, the Borromean Islands are one of the most enchanting sights of the Italian lakes. They take their name from the Borromeo family, a noble Milanese family who have owned most of them since the sixteenth century and transformed bare rocks into palaces and gardens of fairy-tale beauty.
Isola Bella was transformed from the seventeenth century by Carlo III Borromeo, who dedicated it to his wife Isabella d'Adda, from whom it takes its name, and by his son Vitaliano: the island became a great baroque "ship" of stone, with the sumptuous Palazzo Borromeo, rich in tapestries, paintings and furniture, with the curious grottoes covered with pebbles and shells, and the spectacular Italian garden, arranged on ten terraces in a pyramid, crowned by statues and populated by white peacocks. Isola Madre, the largest, is occupied by a sixteenth century villa and a magnificent botanical garden in the English style, with exotic plants, azaleas, camellias, rhododendrons and colourful pheasants and parrots. Between the two, the Isola dei Pescatori, the only one inhabited all year round, is a small village of fishermen with narrow lanes and restaurants where you can taste the lake fish.
Tip: Isola Bella and Isola Madre are open from late March to early November; buy a combined ticket and take the public boats from Stresa.
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