Just over an hour north of Milan is the resort town of Stresa, the gateway to the Borremean Islands (It: Isole Borromeo). Lake Maggiore is a gorgeous tourist attraction in northwest Italy, arguably nicer (and certainly less touristy) than Lake Como. Lake Maggiore is actually part of the border between the Italian regions of Piedmont and Lombardy. Stresa and the islands are on the Piedmont side, whose capital is Turin, while Milan and Lake Como are in the Lombardy region.
Off the highway, the drive down into Stresa offered stunning views of the lake and islands. I wish there had been somewhere to stop for a photo, but a picture from the car was the best I could do. When you get into town, there are public parking lots right along the water, and a really nice boardwalk up to a panoramic point from which you can see the three islands: Isola Madre off to the right in the distance, Isola Bella (the reason we came), and Isola Superiore (also called Fisherman's Island to the left).
There is a water taxi that will take you to all three, and it travels in a circular route on a regular schedule, so you can get dropped off on an island and stay as long as you like. Well, at least until the last water taxi at 6 pm. We first traveled to the farthest island, Isola Madre, which is also the biggest. There's a restaurant right next to the dock, called La Piratera, and you can eat on the patio overlooking the lake. Because it was windy and raining, we chose to eat indoors and instead look out the large windows at the gorgeous scenery. The food was delicious, not too expensive, and warmed us up. Isola Madre also has a botanical garden, again with some great views, but we didn't stay too long because I really wanted to get to what we had come for: Isola Bella.
Isola Bella is a pretty small island, and basically, the whole thing is open to the public. There's a palace with a self-guided tour, and on the far side from the dock, the palace garden is stunning. The whole thing is known as Palazzo Borromeo, and it was constructed in 1632, just erupting atop this rocky island. It really reminded me of the Thimble Islands in Connecticut.
First things first, walking through the palace was very cool. It was really pretty, and I loved the painted ceilings. There was also a very cool grotto on the lower level with direct water access and a couple of boats tied up. I wasn't expecting it to be as impressive as it was, considering I was really there for the garden and hadn't bothered doing much research beyond that, but it was really worth it to walk through and get the full palace experience.
Then you get out to the garden, and wow. This fountain wall feature was just stunning. It's massive, with three different levels and so many sculptures and lovely flowers on all sides.
Then, on the other side of the fountain wall, there's this beautiful hedge feature below and more flowers further down. There were so many paths to explore and each had an awesome view. I would have loved the garden for its own beauty, but the fact that you get these panoramic views of this gorgeous serene blue lake as your backdrop made it so much nicer. Even in crappy weather, it was picturesque.
There were also white peacocks everywhere! Roaming around the garden and hanging out among the plants. They were pretty cool to look at, great to photograph, and not afraid of humans at all. They must have been brought to the island, and generations later, there's a small flock of them adding quite a touch of elegance to the already beautiful palace garden.
It was really fun to walk around here. Not only for the plants and views and peacocks. But there were all these little nooks with fountains and cool sculptures just waiting to be found. I liked that there wasn't one specific way to walk, you got to wander around and find these little charms on your own.
Even though the weather wasn't great, this was one of my favorite parts of my trip. We all know I'm a huge fan of gardens, and this one being so well maintained and on a tiny island and thoughtfully constructed as a walkable garden experience was really a joy. It truly was a tiny island paradise. Besides, I'm sure the rainy weather is why the flowers were all so beautiful... and my photos not coming out well just gives me a reason to go back!
