The Borromean Islands of Lago Maggiore

This from the "Italia" Website about the Borromean Islands:

The Borromean Islands are jaw-dropping beautiful.  Loved by Ernest Hemingway and, in more recent times, by the English Royals, this Archipelago is made up of the monumental Isola Bella, with its 17th-Century Palazzo Borromeo, surrounded by beautiful gardens, the picturesque Isola dei Pescatori (Fishermen’s Island), Isola Madre, noted for its botanical garden, rich in rare plants, the little Island of San Giovanni that faces Pallanza, and the Rock of Marghera.  Lake Maggiore was a favorite resort locality for the noble families of Lombardy (e.g. the Borromeos and the Viscontis) that also constructed sumptuous villas here, beginning in the 1700s.

The Borromeos, a prestigious family of Florentine origins, became the Islands’ owners in the 14th Century when they began to transform them by building residences with elaborate gardens.
Still today Isola Bella and Isola Madre remain in the family’s possession, as do the two rocks, or little islands, of Castelli di Cannero, that bear the ruins of two Medieval fortifications.

Isola Madre and Isola Bella, also known as the “sisters,” are highly-frequented by tourists seeking out the splended palazzos and their gardens, famous throughout the world for their landscaping and for the attention to detail, care, and variety of the plant “architecture,” which is composed of over 2,000 different species.  On Isola Bella - from the name of the wife of Carlo III Borromeo, Isabella d'Adda - visitors delight in seeing Palazzo Borromeo with its halls and rooms on the piano nobile, coi saloni e le camere del piano nobile, realized from the 17th to the 19th Centuries, and with the lower portion of the house, boasting stone- and shell-covered grottoes.  Not to be left out is the garden featuring multi-colored flowers year-round, as well as a multitude of exotic plants. The salons, music and arms rooms, the gardens with their ten superimposed terraces were inhabited by both Napoleon Bonaparte (1797), to whom a room is dedicated, and Mussolini who made the residence the seat of representation during a 1935 international conference.

Knowing a little about these islands from previous visits, yesterday, in spite of the cool and cloudy weather (still!), I set off to visit the three main islands on this lake.  What was great was there was a very convenient boat schedule which enabled me to spend time on each of them with a late afternoon return to Cannero.  Nawal was having none of that because of the weather and decided to stay put!  Anyway, the fast ferry (a hydrofoil) left at 9:50 and about 1/2 hour later I was deposited on the first island, Isola Madre.  The main, and perhaps only reason, for visiting it is to tour one of the Borromeo family's villas.  The villa is very pretty but, unfortunately, I have no photos of the interiors to prove it because photography was not permitted inside.  The gardens as well are stunning and contain many rare plants including a Himalayan cypress which was damaged in a recent storm and is being restored. 

View from a loggia at the villa

The restoration of the ancient Himalayan cypress tree



View of the villa from the ferry

 

The Palazzo wall near the ferry dock

After leaving Isola Madre, I went to Isola dei Pescatori where I wandered around a bit and had lunch.  There are no dogs allowed on this island - not sure why - but that clearly delights the many cats wandering around, I'm sure!  The island has lots of little alleyways filled mostly with pizzerias and plenty of tourist shops and restaurants line the lakefront. 

At the ferry dock on "Fishermen's Island"

One of the alleyways

View of the villa at Isola Bella from Isola dei Pescatori

View of Isola dei Pescatori from the ferry

Next stop after my tasty and inexpensive lunch (a quattro of vino bianco and tortellini with ham in a cream sauce for about 10 Euros), I caught the ferry to Isola Bella, the one island I had visited before.  Once again, photography inside the villa wasn't permitted - although that didn't seem to stop the German woman near me from taking all sorts of photos, even when she was told not to!.  The rooms here are stunning and I am sure can be viewed somewhere on the Internet.  Especially impressive are the entrance room, the ballroom and the grottoes.  The gardens are spectacular and, like last time, the weather was not particularly cooperative.  However, hopefully some of the following photos will give some idea of the gardens.  At least the white peacocks, famous for roaming the gardens, were cooperating and had their tails fanned out.

The White Peacock

After visiting the villa, I had a couple of hours to spare before the ferry was scheduled to take me back to Cannero so, I did what has become a bit of a "habit", I went to a bar on the lakeside and had an Aperol Spritz.  Back in Cannero about 1 1/2 hours later, Nawal and I met up.  She had had a good day wandering up and down the hills of this town and was pleased with the extra exercise.  The restaurant we chose for dinner, Il Cortile, had been recommended by some Swiss friends and rated on Trip Advisor as the #1 restaurant in Cannero.  It did not disappoint and we had a great time.  The Spanish (and probably gay) waiter was so much fun, the food was great and we had a complimentary shot of chocolate-caramel grappa to finish our visit there.  What a great way to finish up our time on Lago Maggiore.

Nawal's impressive "chocolate cube" dessert