An island-hopping day trip from the resort of Stresa to Isola Bella, Isola dei Pescatori and Isola Madre within Lake Maggiore. Explore the villas and grounds of these three exotic outcrops, lunching in a fish restaurant on Isola dei Pescatori.
DISTANCE: 13km (8 miles) return trip by ferry
TIME: A full day
START/END: Stresa
POINTS TO NOTE: Regular ferries operate from Stresa to the islands. Pick up a timetable from the ferry station or check times on www.navigazionelaghi.it. If you do not want the restrictions of a timetable – the ferry service stops early evening – consider taking one of the not-too-extortionate private boats by the ferry station. The islands are packed throughout the season; make an early start if you want to see all three islands in a day and avoid the worst of the crowds.
Located off the shore of Stresa , the Borromean Islands lie at the centre of Lake Maggiore, which, despite its name, is the second-largest Italian lake after Garda. The long, narrow ribbon of water stretches 65km (40 miles) and is bordered by Lombardy to the east, Piedmont to the west and the Swiss canton of Ticino to the north. The scenery varies from the wild northern mountains, where the Swiss pre-Alps descend towards the lake, to the gentler Mediterranean-like shores of the south.
At the ferry station on Piazza Marconi, beside the tourist office, you can buy a ticket that includes entrances to the island sights. Alight at the first stop – Isola Bella.
Whereas Isola dei Pescatori was styled as a rural retreat and Isola Madre as an enchanted garden, Isola Bella 1 [map] (www.borromeoturismo.it; charge) was always intended to be a showy pleasure palace. In recent times Isola Bella has served as the Borromean princes’ summer residence; the family stays in the island palace. To protect the family’s privacy and its impressive art collection, two-thirds of the palace is closed to the public, but it is still worth seeing, not least for the beguiling Baroque gardens and the palatial treasures on show.
Lake Maggiore
Neil Buchan-Grant/Apa Publications
The Borromean Islands
From a rock to a monument
Although Isola Bella began as little more than a rocky islet with a view, over the course of centuries it became a delightful folly. In the 1620s Count Carlo III Borromeo was inspired to create a full-blown monument to his wife Isabella. To realise his vision the rocks were transformed into an island with ten terraces designed to resemble the prow of a ship in full sail. Boatloads of soil were transported to this barren island, as well as Baroque statuary and the building materials needed for the creation of a palatial villa. The works continued under his son, Vitiliano VI, and were virtually complete by the time of his death in 1670. Even so, inspired by the original plans, family descendants continued to embellish the island until the 1950s when Vitiliano IX, the last member of the family to attempt major modifications, died before building his cherished harbour.
Borromean Palace
The island creates a dramatic impact as you approach. Disembarking from the ferry, follow the flow to the turreted Palazzo Borromeo. The stern façade belies a lavish interior, full of gilt and stuccowork, marble statues and Murano chandeliers. The palace’s high-ceilinged rooms contain a fine collection of 16th- to 18th-century northern Italian art, though it is encrusted in a Baroque clutter of stuccowork and heraldic crests, only partially redeemed by bold flourishes such as a cantilevered spiral staircase. Lavishly overstuffed public rooms connect a gilded throne room, an empire-style ballroom and a Flemish long gallery housing tapestries emblazoned with the unicorns that adorn the dynasty’s distinctive crest.
The palace has witnessed numerous momentous historical events, and has played host to emperors and statesmen. In 1797 Napoleon slept in one of the bedrooms – a ponderous Neoclassical chamber decorated in what was the politically correct Directoire style. The ornate music room was the setting for the Stresa peace conference of 1935: it was here that Italy, Britain and France failed to agree on a strategic response to Hitler’s programme of rapid rearmament, a missed opportunity that hastened the momentum towards war.
View of the Borromean Islands
Dreamstime
Grottoes and garden
Designed as a cool summer retreat, the area beneath the palace conceals bizarre artificial grottoes, with tufa-stone walls studded with shells, pebbles and fossils. The maritime mood is sustained in the statue of a coolly reclining nude and caverns dotted with marine imagery. This grotesque creation reflects the contemporary taste for Wunderkammer – chambers of marvels designed to enchant visitors with their eclectic displays. In the case of Isola Bella, however, the greatest marvel lies outside.
The Baroque gardens envelop the palace in sweeping arcs, with dramatic architectural perspectives accentuated by grandiose urns, obelisks, fountains and statues. Although the terraced gardens abound in arbours, water features and statuary, the sum is greater than its parts. Serried ranks of orange and lemon trees meet flower beds before fading into a studied confusion of camellias and magnolias, laurels, cypresses, jasmine and pomegranate.
The ship-shaped terraces, crowned by a four-tiered folly studded with shells and topped by cherubs and classical gods, culminate in a huge statue of a heraldic unicorn. It is all rather pompous, but you can’t fail to admire the variety of exotic flora, and the sublime views across to Monte Mottarone. The pièce de résistance is a shell-shaped amphitheatre that serves as a delightful setting for summer concerts.
After your visit return to the ferry landing stage (the rest of the island is awash with trinket stands and poor-quality tourist restaurants).
A five-minute ferry ride from Isola Bella brings you to Isola dei Pescatori 2 [map], or as you hear the ferrymen announce it, ‘Isola Superiore dei Pescatori’. The full name derives from the Latin superior, indicating that it is further north than Isola Bella (Isola Inferiore).
The island is a pretty fishing village less dedicated to fishing than to the preservation of its film-set picturesque appearance. It is a place for pottering down tiny alleys and peering at the lake, or even paddling off the pebble beach facing Isola Bella. The maze of passageways conjures up the mood of a remote Greek island. Henry James praised this pocket of Italy for making one feel ‘out of the rush and crush of the modern world’.
Statue on Isola Bella
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Lunch break
Of the three islands the Isola dei Pescatori is the best bet for lunch, with two inviting waterside restaurants serving fresh fish: the Hotel Ristorante Verbano, see 1 [map], adjoining the pebble beach, or the Hotel Ristorante Belvedere, see 2 [map], five minutes’ walk north.
After lunch take the next ferry to Isola Madre, which stops at the resort of Baveno en route.
Enjoy the cooling breezes on the ferry to Isola Madre 3 [map] (www.borromeoturismo.it; charge). Here on the largest of the islands, and what was once the wildest, you will find gently landscaped gardens. The island is home to Europe’s largest Kashmiri cypress and some of the first camellias planted in Italy. Best seen in spring, the camellias are part of a patchwork formed by shady paths, ancient cedars, mimosa, magnolias and giant rhododendrons, and populated by white peacocks, Chinese pheasants and parrots. The best time to visit is April for camellias or May for azaleas and rhododendrons. In 2006 a freak storm uprooted the island’s great Kashmiri Cypress tree. A huge rescue effort, involving cranes brought over by helicopter and ropes to secure it, seems to have paid off, as new growth is showing.
1 [map] Hotel Ristorante Verbano
Via Ugo Ara 2, Isola dei Pescatori; www.hotelverbano.it
Gourmet restaurant with several themed tasting menus (including a vegetarian option) set on a lakeside terrace overlooking Isola Bella that is especially fine in the evenings. Fish-based cuisine. €€€€
2 [map] Hotel Ristorante Belvedere
Via di Mezzo, Isola dei Pescatori; www.belvedere-isolapescatori.it
An idyllic waterside setting with meals served in the garden, on the veranda or in the lakeview dining room. The emphasis is on lake fish. Free evening boat service from/to Stresa. €€
The 16th-century villa – an apparently austere Mannerist affair created as a home rather than a palace – is a bit stifling and gloomy. The Borromean family indulged their love of theatre here – check out the curious collection of puppet theatres, puppets and dolls.
In the evening you could also dine on Isola dei Pescatori – it is at its most romantic when the crowds have gone. Otherwise, return to Stresa, bearing in mind the last ferry departs at around 6.30pm.
The Baroque gardens of Palazzo Borromeo
Dreamstime