| Destination of the week: |
| | Stresa, Lake Maggiore |
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Click here to view properties in Stresa and nearby
In all of Europe there can be few more beautiful lake views than over Lake Maggiore. And there can be few more stunning views over Maggiore than from the town of Stresa.
Stresa stands on Maggiore’s western banks overlooking the Borromeo Gulf and its islands, which form the heart of the lake. And there are many who believe this area is the lake’s heart in more than just location.
Those who have sung its praises include Ernest Hemingway, who visited in the late 1940s and set part of his masterpiece, Farewell to Arms, in the town. (In 2002 the 10th International Hemingway Conference was held here). Even before Hemingway, other notable names won over by its delights included Charles Dickens and Lord Byron.
In the Belle Epoque years leading up to World War One, Stresa’s grand casinos and hotels rivalled those of Monte Carlo, Venice and Sanremo. Those hotels and villas still stand. And nearly a century on Stresa has lost none of its appeal, still attracting thousands of tourists a year, especially in high season. The palm trees that welcome the visitor to many of these imposing buildings lend the town a tropical feel and for a moment make one forget that you are closer to the Alps than the Mediterranean.
Among the most popular excursions in Stresa are the trips to the three picturesque isles – Isola Bella, Isola dei Pescatori and Isola Madre, the largest of the three – that make up the Borromee Islands. Regular water taxis and ferries run the short hop from Stresa.
Isola dei Pescatori, a strip of whitewashed houses and narrow lanes, measures barely 350 metres by 100 metres and is by a distance the smallest of the trio – despite also being known as Isola Superiore. It is home to around 50 inhabitants, although their numbers are considerably swelled by tourists in summer.
The three islands were occupied by Borromeo feudal lords in the 1500s. Isola Bella takes its name from Isabella, wife of the 16th century Count Carlo Borromeo, who built Palazzo Borromeo and its gardens for her. Those of you with a smattering of Italian will recognise that it literally translates as beautiful island. And with good reason. Dickens, after an 1844, visit, was moved to write: “For however fanciful and fantastic the Isola Bella may be, and is, it still is beautiful.”. Note that the island is shut from November to mid-March.
Isola Madre also has a Palazzo Borromeo surrounded by a magnificent English-style country garden, designed in the 17th century by Carlo IV of the Borromeo dynasty. It is one of Stresa’s four major gardens, the others being the English-style country gardens of Villa Taranto (designed by a Scot, Capt Neil McEacharn, who bought the site in the early 1930s); Isola Bella’s gardens behind the Palazzo and the Giardino Botanico Alpinia high above Stresa itself.
The Giardino Botanico Alpinia features more than 1,000 varieties of Alpine plants but even more impressively it sits some 2,650ft above Stresa and is reached by a breathtaking cable car ride. The cable car also continues to the summit of the 4,920ft Mount Mottarone – which alternatively requires a five-hour hike on foot from the town if you're feeling energetic. The mountain doubles as a ski resort in winter and boasts superb views of the Alps, several lakes and, on clear days, as far as Turin and Milan.
Click here to view properties in Stresa and nearby
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