Borromean Islands

The Borromean Islands are an archipelago of small lake islands known for their unique gardens amid the splendid setting of Lake Maggiore. They have long charmed travellers, including the likes of Ernest Hemingway and British royalty.

General description

The archipelago is made up of Isola Bella, with the 17th-century Borromeo palace and its enchanting terraced scenic gardens ; Isola Madre which is the largest and quietest, with a splendid English-style botanical garden where rare plants grow, less showy than the garden of Isola Bella, but with over 2000 species from around the world ; Isola dei Pescatori which is the only island inhabited year-round, with excellent restaurants and a mid-August market accompanied by a traditional folk festival ; and finally the islet of San Giovanni and the rock of Marghera.

These islands bear the name of the Borromeo, an ancient and powerful family who chose Lake Maggiore as their favourite holiday spot. They acquired it in the 14th century, then built villas there with their magnificent gardens. Their descendants are in fact still the owners of Isola Bella, Isola Madre, as well as the two rocks of the Castelli di Cannero with their remains of medieval forts.

Isola Madre and Isola Bella can be visited every day, from late March to late October (24 € from memory), via the ferries of the Navigazione Lago Maggiore company, from Stresa for the simplest connection, but the ferries also leave from nearby Verbania, and even from Arona on the eastern shore of the lake.

Isola Bella

This is the first stop for boats leaving Stresa, 400 metres from the shore, and the second largest of the three islands at 320 metres long, distinguished by the enchanting gardens that cover much of it. It is usually visited from late March to late October, preferably in spring and early summer when it is at its most flowery.
Its first name was Isola Isabella, from which the current name derives, in homage to the wife of Count Charles III Borromeo who decided to build the palace there in 1630.
It was between 1650 and 1671 that Count Vitaliano Borromeo had the terraces laid out and the superb Baroque summer palace built, entrusting the work to the famous architect Carlo Fontana.

The island’s first attraction is its Italian-style Baroque garden, spread over ten superimposed stone terraces in the shape of a pyramid, reaching a height difference of 32 metres, and with an amphitheatre shape at the centre of the island as a welcome. They are covered with luxuriant vegetation and flower beds, embellished with statues and sculptures among rows of lemon and orange trees, laurels, cherry trees, cedars, magnolias, cork oaks, palms, carob trees, camellias or oleanders.
The setting completes the charm of the place, where the panorama stretches beyond the clear waters of the lake to the Alpine mountains.
In the splendid Borromeo Palace (16th-19th century), which was embellished over time, you can visit the beautiful Baroque-style apartments with their Mannerist tendency. There are more than 20 rooms including the Great Hall, the Throne Room, the Napoleon Room because he slept there one night, the dome-shaped Festival Hall, the Ballroom, the Music Room with its rare instruments, or the Berthier Gallery with its mosaic of 130 paintings. The furniture is precious, with 17th-century Flemish tapestries, marbles, stuccos, or Lombard paintings of the 16th and 17th centuries. In the basement are six artificial grottoes with walls inlaid with shells, stuccos or marbles.

Isola Madre

The Isola Madre, which was once called Isola Maggiore, is the largest of the islands, where the gardens mainly spread over several terraces, stemming from one of the oldest botanical gardens in Italy.
Its Borromeo Palace, less sumptuous than that of Isola Bella, was built in the early 16th century. It has been open to the public since 1978, who can discover its magnificent luxuriously furnished rooms, loggias with windows overlooking the lake and the garden, and 17th-century paintings and porcelain.
Among the most interesting salons are the Salon of the Seasons ; the luminous Venetian Salon with its mirrors, Murano chandeliers, trompe l’œil floral paintings ; the library ; the Reception Room ; the Hall of Battles ; the Hall of the Popes ; the Doll Room ; and in particular a room with the collection of puppets and theatre sets.
The Borromeos in fact had a veritable domestic theatre to entertain their guests, at least since the 17th century. This collection devoted to puppet theatre is one of the most important of its kind, comprising set designs, backdrops, old and more recent puppets, scripts or musical scores, and also mechanical special-effect devices to create fog, fire and stage noises.

The island also has a chapel and of course its beautiful English-style garden, teeming with flowers and plants, with more species than that of Isola Bella, and which is more laid out for strolling. It contains rare subtropical plants, exotic flowers, wisterias, rhododendrons or camellias, as well as colourful birds such as Chinese pheasants, peacocks or parrots. In particular, a two-hundred-year-old Kashmir cypress and an exotic palm over 130 years old grow here. Of course, the beauty of the scene is also linked to the majesty of the lake and the mountains in the background.

Isola dei Pescatori

The smallest of the three Borromean Islands, Isola dei Pescatori (Fishermen’s Island in English), is also the only one to be permanently inhabited by nearly 50 people, with its fishermen’s village, made up of a small square surrounded by narrow streets and a promenade to the north, including several good trattorias serving the lake’s fish.
On 15 August the traditional procession in boats takes place.

Map

Information

• Official website: www.isoleborromee.it
• Wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org