The stunning Italian lake islands trapped in a Renaissance time warp

Today’s billionaires collect fast cars and yachts to impress, but in the Italian Renaissance, a beautiful garden was the ultimate symbol of power and wealth. Displays of exotic botanical species paid tribute to the intrepid plant hunters who smuggled them to Europe from the depths of Asia and the Pacific, while fanciful statuary, grottoes and terraces were created for the amusement and entertainment of guests.

In the Italian lake district, no family boasted harder or more theatrically than the influential House of Borromeo, which purchased four rocky islets on glorious Lake Maggiore in the 16th century and transformed them into showpieces. Today, the Borromeo family still owns three of these islands, with two of them – Isola Bella and Isola Madre – rising to grand tour destination fame and remaining the most popular tourist attractions in the gorgeous lakeside town of Stresa.

Isola Bella in Lake Maggiore.Credit: Adobe Stock

Originally a barren rock called Isola Inferiore, Isola Bella – renamed in the 1600s after Isabella, the wife of Carlo Borromeo III – is today as far from inferior as you can imagine, a high Baroque riot of terracing, symmetry and architectural opulence that both assaults and amazes the eyes.

Designed to resemble a galleon from the water, 10 terraces rise above the lake, the perfect axis created by sculpted boxwood hedges, mirrored plantings of camellias and citrus and burbling fountains. Meanwhile, white peacocks strut freely on manicured lawns, their surreal squawks at odds with their fanned dance of seduction.

The real drama occurs, however, in Teatro Massimo, where a huge shell grotto erupts into an explosion of obelisks and statuary, ostentatiously topped by the heraldic Borromeo symbol of a rearing unicorn. Centuries-old rare plantings line either side of the pathway leading to the 17th-century summer palace, its 20 marbled and stuccoed rooms jam-packed with Baroque art, including masterpieces by Titian, Correggio and Raphael.

The monumental Teatro Massimo on Isola Bella.Credit: iStock

Isola Bella’s beauty is in the eye of the beholder; over the years it has been derided as both “vulgar” and “gawkable”, while author Joseph Woods wrote in 1810 that the island “is sublime bad taste both inside and out”. Charles Dickens was a little more gracious in a description in 1844 that said: “however fanciful and fantastic the Isola Bella may be … it is still beautiful”.

Isola Madre, on the other hand, is a more restrained statement, its eight-hectare garden reflecting the romantic English style of meandering parkland. Gustave Flaubert described Madre as “the most voluptuous place I have ever seen in the world”, and it is indeed a delight to wander, with more than 2000 rare floral species: fragrant wisteria and magnolias, parterres of rhododendron and azaleas, avenues of giant redwood, reflective ponds with waterlilies, irises and lotus. Exotic birds – white and blue-green peacocks, silver and golden pheasants – dart from behind lush walls of laurel and camellia, while on a waterfront terrace, king proteas and kangaroo paw represent Southern Hemisphere exotica.

Dominating a corner near the elegant palazzo is a massive Kashmiri cypress, grown from seed sent from the Himalayas by Scottish botanist William B. Pentland in 1862. In 2006, this gigantic 70-tonne tree with a trunk eight metres in diameter was uprooted by a tornado. But after a feat of high-level engineering in a race against time, the tree was replanted and firmly re-anchored to the ground, testament to the Borromeo family’s commitment to its botanical treasures.

A peacock on Isola Madre.Credit: Getty Images

The villa’s interior is as intriguing as the garden, furnished with sumptuous period Italian furniture, tapestries, portraits and trompe-l’oeil decorations. Don’t miss the display of wooden theatre marionettes, a warped insight into children’s entertainment in days gone by.

The third of the Borromean Islands open to the public is Isola Pescatori, the island of fishermen. True to its name, a good meal is guaranteed here, with the island’s permanent population of 50 catering to visitors in cafes lining cobbled passageways and waterfront restaurants, freshly caught fish an obvious specialty.

Isola Pescatori, the island of fishermen.Credit: iStock

While its sister islands revel in grandeur and botanical frippery, Pescatori rounds out the Borromean tourist experience with what regional Italy does best: good food, an abundance of traditional charm and unpretentious authenticity. It’s an unmissable trinity in what Ernest Hemingway called “one of the most beautiful Italian lakes”.

The details

Visit
To visit the Borromean Islands, catch a public ferry or private boat charter from Stresa.
See visitstresa.com
The islands are open from mid-March to the end of October from 10am to 5pm. A combined island ticket costs €32 ($52). See isolaborromee.it

Cruise
Visit the Borromean Islands during a Botanica World Discoveries’ Gardens of the Italian Lakes, Slovenia & Croatian Islands Cruise. See botanica.travel

The writer travelled as a guest of Botanica World Discoveries.