For our second sunny day in Italy, our initial plan had been to go to Orta, the whole reason we came on this trip in the first place (we’ll get to that) but my guidebook says it gets especially crowded on Sundays… so instead we drove up the Lago Maggiore shoreside!
Our first stop was Verbania, which is apparently just an official name to designate several small towns that fused together, the most notable of which -Palanza and Intra- continue to use their names in various signs and in conversation. We skipped the town center to go straight to Villa Palanto, a botanical garden sitting on top of a hill overlooking the lake. It has its own free parking, but if you don’t have a car, you can also come here by boat and get off at Villa Taranto’s own dock (the walk from Pallanza town does look like a bit of a trek, especially as you’ll be walking a lot inside the garden proper).
The villa was built in the 19th century, but later bought by a Scottish captain who oversaw its transformation into a sprawling, hilly garden. For 12€ a ticket, you get to enjoy a long, clearly signposted walk all around the garden.
It was very sunny today, as indeed it’s been all day -I scurry from shade to shade like I’m a vampire- but thankfully it’s not that hot; just when you think the sun’s getting too oppressive, a cool lake breeze drifts by and lowers the temperature a bit. The experience is further enhanced by the fact that there are so few tourists to share the walk with, at least compared to the crowds we encountered yesterday in the islands, and anyway the paths are wide and long enough that it’s easy for all visitors to allow each other their own space.
The garden, itself, is delightful in its variety: there’s a section for cacti, a pond with gorgeous white and orange lotus flowers, enormous trees as well as flowerbeds of every color, each plant species prominently signed. There are a couple of small but eye-catching fountains, and a carefully planned, terraced garden with a water feature with beautiful views all around. It’s a great way to spend a morning!
Plus, not for nothing, there’s a nice outdoors cafe right by the garden’s exit, where we enjoyed a pick-me-up and a well-earned rest in the shade. It’s hilarious how much better the Italian waiters treat us than the non-Mediterranean tourists. Where the Germans or Americans get barked at in curt English, we get mellifluous Italian recommendations and niceties. The olive oil alliance is real!
After walking all around the garden, we drove into Pallanza, parked, and then walked over to the lakeshore. In most of these towns, there isn’t a lot to do in terms of sightseeing activities, like museums or monuments, so the main experience lies in taking a walk along the waterfront to take in each place’s unique architecture and ambiance. This square in particular was under construction, so we were happy to just sit down for a spell and then head for lunch at Bolongaro, a restaurant indistinguishable from all the others along the avenue except for the fact that it came recommended by my guidebook. It’s touristy, sure, but it was affordable, the staff were nice and the food was good, so that works for me!
After lunch, we kept driving north until we made an ill-advised stop at Cannero-Riviera, a ghastly resort town full of holidaying families. Don’t get me wrong, the place looked great for them, everyone was happy to be out and about, but for a visitor there’s nothing to do or really even to look at, so after walking some more and roasting in the sun some more we retreated back into our car to continue to our actual destination, Cannobio.
Cannobio is a quaint little lakeshore town, its main attraction a pleasant promenade right by the edge of the water. This was bustling with visitors and there were lots of souvenir shops and touristy restaurants, but if you look up you’ll notice the houses are all ancient, giving the whole town a strongly medieval feel; in fact, to get to the lower level from the car park we had to make our way through a small network of narrow cobblestoned alleyways.
The trees, the water, and the shade all make for a delightful walk, while the imposing but forested mountains towering above us in all directions felt a little foreboding. There are points where you can see the lake stretching out into the horizon in both directions, back south and north into Switzerland. The nature here is amazing!
We clocked a gelateria near our starting point (there’s at least one more further ahead, but I made the executive decision that it looked dodgy) and as you know one of my goals for this trip is to eat my own weight in ice cream, so that was our well-earned teatime pitstop. Having delicious gelato while gawking at the timeless beauty of the lake is an ideal experience!
That was about it for today -I don’t think we could walk another step even if we tried! So we called it a day and drove back to our base of operations in Stresa. I’d lost track of how far out we’d made it and was shocked that the way back took an hour. We’ve covered a fair bit of ground!
This Is A Lake 