Isola Bella & Palazzo Borromeo

Isola Bella is the most famous of the Borromean Islands on Lake Maggiore and one of the great set pieces of the Italian Baroque, created from the seventeenth century when Count Carlo III Borromeo and his successors transformed a rocky islet into a palace and garden conceived to resemble a ship riding on the lake. The Palazzo Borromeo, still owned by the family, is a sumptuous residence whose rooms are hung with tapestries, old master paintings and Murano-glass chandeliers and include a series of atmospheric grottoes lined with shells and pebbles designed as a cool retreat in summer. Beyond the palace lies the island's signature attraction, a ten-terrace Italian garden rising in stages and crowned by a theatrical pyramid topped with a Borromeo unicorn, where statues, obelisks, citrus trees and exotic plants share the grounds with strutting white peacocks. The combination of opulent interiors, formal terraces and lake views makes for one of the most memorable visits in the Piedmont lakes. A typical visit lasts two to three hours including the boat trip, and visitors reach the island by short ferry from Stresa or Baveno. The island is busiest in high summer and on weekends; spring and early summer, when the gardens bloom and the camellias and roses are at their best, offer the finest scenes with smaller crowds, and morning light suits photography of the terraces and the lake. The palace and garden are open from spring to autumn and close in winter. Stresa itself is well connected by train from Turin and Milan, making Isola Bella an easy and rewarding day trip into the lake district that straddles the edge of Piedmont.