I can’t believe we’re finally back here -I haven’t had the opportunity to travel properly since my trip to India in 2019, which you can read about on this very blog, and so I’m so excited to start seeing the world again!
This time I’m traveling a little bit closer, to Lago Maggiore in Italy, a beautiful lake region near the bigger and more famous (but also more touristy) Lake Como. There are many beautiful towns, islands and mountains all around, which makes it an ideal family destination. For our part, we’re staying at an apartment between Stresa and Baveno, the most convenient bases of operations to move around the lake.
For our first day, on a glorious summer morning, we decided to visit the Borromeo Islands, a trio of tiny islands on the section of the lake that flows between Stresa, on our side, and Pallanza, on the other side. Pretty much every major town on the shore can be reached by ferry, the tickets for which can be bought individually or as a day pass; after doing some research I think the day pass is the better option if you want to see various islands like we did, and individual tickets if you just want to go to one place and back.
There are three Borromeo Islands, so called because to this day they belong to the famous Borromeo family, which built palaces and gardens in them during the Baroque era. There’s Isola Bella, the most spectacular, Isola Madre, the more relaxed one, and Isola Superiore or Isola dei Pescatori, which technically doesn’t belong to the family but which everyone throws into the same bag anyway.
I’ll waste no time telling you that the islands are very much worth it, even considering the rather steep prices (it’s about €20 for the boat day pass, plus €20 more for each of the two palaces).
Isola Bella, just ten minutes from Stresa by boat, was our very first foray this morning. It is a tiny island made that much smaller by the huge crowds of tourists going in and out, already busy at 10:00 and with more coming by the hour. There’s one minuscule waterfront street with extremely touristy souvenir shops and restaurants, and then most of the island itself is occupied by the palace and its gardens.
The visit starts with the palace, which is quite a sight if not quite reaching the splendor that you may have got used to by visiting palaces around France or other places in continental Europe. Lots of vaulted ceilings, hundreds of Baroque paintings on the walls, an actual throne room (for whom?!) and incredible views from the many windows, but if you look closely you notice that the walls are just painted to look like stone and marble. The palace is still worth the visit, but it’s true that today’s visit was made very uncomfortable by the throngs of tourists crammed in its small corridors. Over the years of traveling I’ve grown accustomed to crowds and don’t begrudge other people for choosing the same destinations as me: I am a tourist too, we all share this one planet, and it’s normal that many of us want to see its wonders. What did annoy me today, though, is that most visitors were part of large groups and their guides would stop and gather them for a lecture just anywhere, often blocking doorways and corridors, such that I had to spend more time elbowing my way through a room than actually appreciating the art in it.
After snaking our way through dozens of palace rooms, however, we were let out into the gardens, which are the real crown jewel. They occupy the back half of the island and are built on multiple levels, as terraces or hanging gardens perhaps.
There are sculptures everywhere, expertly manicured French hedges and walking gardens combined with lush palm trees and shrubbery that covers almost every inch of every wall. Not for nothing, the same crowds that had to compete for space indoors can spread out outside, so that it feels less busy.
It was past noon by the time we came out of the other side and back onto the docks, and since the dining options on the island looked like tourist traps we took the ferry back to Stresa instead to eat at Grano Duro, as recommended by our AirBnB host. Sure enough, we had a delicious meal surrounded by Italians. I find it delightful that by and large Italians as well as we prefer to talk to each other in our native Italian and Spanish, close enough to understand, than try English as a bridge language. And why not!
After a copious lunch, we went back to the docks to take another boat, this one to Isola Madre, which is smaller than Isola Bella and also features a palazzo with gardens. Here, the gardens occupy most of the space, and rather than a polished French garden this is closer to a British garden, still expertly landscaped and lovingly tended to but more of an expanse of grass with many tall trees turning it into a small forest.
There’s one section in particular that’s stunning, right outside the palazzo, with an enormous cypress tree that I assumed was a willow because of its long, drooping leaves. Turns out it was planted in 1862, and was in fact torn out entirely during a terrible storm in 2006: they had to fly in two cranes from the mainland to turn it over and replant it. It’s a modern botanical miracle that it survived!
The building itself is not very remarkable, except to note that it looked more like a hunting lodge than a palace, with weapons and antlers displayed on walks along with, bizarrely enough, a LOT of puppets. Yeah, I don’t know, man.
Writing about it now it sounds like two islands isn’t that big of a deal, but you’re gonna have to take my word for it that by the time we were done with the second one I was absolutely knackered. Lots of walking in the harsh sun, lots of waiting around, upstairs downstairs back and forth inside and outside, so when we made it back to Stresa at 17:30 I was more than ready to call it a day. My only remaining item on the agenda: have gelato before heading back to the apartment! There are a lot of gelaterias around Stresa’s town square and I plan to try as many of them as I can as if I were writing my own travel guide. This time I picked Bianca, which has a delicious dark chocolate ice cream, but the mango sorbet was middling -try to find my Jaipur entries here to discover the world’s best mango ice cream!
That’s it for this first day. Barely 24h in the country and already I’ve seen great architecture, incredible nature, beautiful gardens, had wonderful food, and walked about a million kilometers. The trip is already a success!
This Is A Lake 